Verizon’s present CEO Daniel Schulman shortly gained a popularity as a really daring and trustworthy government. For instance, throughout the third-quarter 2025 earnings name, Schulman overtly admitted that Verizon’s latest monetary development was constructed on a technique that isn’t sustainable.
“…A strategic approach that relies too much on price without subscriber growth is not a sustainable strategy,” Schulman stated throughout the name, as reported by The Motley Idiot.
In January, throughout the This fall earnings name, Verizon CFO Anthony Skiadas confirmed that the corporate misplaced 2.25 million clients during the last three years “largely from prior pricing actions as well as competition.”
Schulman, who took the helm in October 2025, highlighted that raising prices without proportionally increasing value “irritates some customers.” He added that the company stopped doing that and is starting to add more value.
More recently, the CEO opened up at the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington about how the carrier can no longer rely on its reputation of providing the best wireless network. He also shared an important message to customers.
Verizon CEO says “it’s a must to deal with folks like people, not like accounts“
In keeping with Schulman, Verizon can not run its enterprise efficiently on the claims that it presents the very best wi-fi community. Particularly, the CEO famous that whereas Verizon would possibly nonetheless technically have the highest service, the hole between it and the competitors has shrunk, reported Bloomberg.
“We probably do have, objectively speaking, the best network, but the differential on that is less than it used to be, and we now need to do all of the basic stuff,” Schulman stated on the convention.
Competing with rivals T-Cell and AT&T, the CEO stated the corporate has been giving market share to rivals that provide extra enticing offers. “We need to simplify promotions, we need to simplify plans and just make it easier for people to do business with us,” he stated, per Bloomberg.
Extra importantly, Schulman believes that Verizon wants to start out prioritizing the fundamentals of buyer providers.
“You have to treat people like humans, not like accounts.”
Schulman didn’t specify what sort of adjustments he plans to implement to alter the corporate’s method in the direction of clients, however earlier this yr, throughout the fourth quarter earnings name, he teased that the corporate is “targeting the launch of our new value proposition in the first half of this year.”
Verizon not too long ago shared that it’s going to report first-quarter 2026 earnings on Monday, April 27, 2026, so it’s attainable it’s going to unveil new worth choices then.
13,000 layoffs had been inevitable, says Verizon CEO as he bets on AI
Schulman, who can be the previous CEO of PayPal, was reluctant to tackle the function of Verizon CEO and solely agreed when he noticed the corporate’s decline in comparison with the competitors. Earlier than Schulman turned CEO, he was a Verizon board member. The corporate was closing its third straight quarter of buyer loss, and he was appointed with the objective of turning issues round, writes Telephone Enviornment.
Since taking the helm, Schulman already made a number of daring strikes, together with layoffs of greater than 13,000 staff to “simplify” operations. Workers affected by the layoffs got entry to a $20 million retraining fund that helps folks discover new job alternatives within the synthetic intelligence (AI) period.
Through the name, Schulman stated the mass layoffs had been “inevitable because if we don’t have enough money to put back into our value proposition to customers, we are going to continue to shrink.”
On Wednesday, April 15, Schulman additionally invited different Fortune 100 CEOs to hitch him in supporting AI retraining initiatives, as he continues to wager on additional AI integration. The service already has entry to and is utilizing Anthropic’s highly effective new Mythos mannequin.
“It’s just a fact: Living in the age of AI, it’s going to change everything. If you’re scared of it, that’s problematic. You need to embrace it for all that it is,” Schulman stated, per Telephone Enviornment.
Verizon’s CEO says “you have to treat people like humans, not like accounts.”
Mino Surkala/Shutterstock&interval;com
Verizon’s latest strikes and buyer reactions
Regardless of arguing that the corporate misplaced clients as a result of earlier worth will increase with out further worth, Verizon not too long ago raised the price of its standard Netflix and HBO Max streaming bundle.
The streaming perk beforehand provided Verizon clients on eligible telephone and residential web plans Netflix and HBO Max subscriptions (with advertisements) for less than $10 a month, saving them $8.98 month-to-month. In keeping with the corporate’s official web site, beginning Could 6, the streaming bundle will enhance from $10 to $13.
“Last year, Verizon raised prices for its myPlan and New Verizon Plan accounts due to ‘rising operational costs.’ It also increased prices for its Verizon Mobile Protect Multi-Device and Verizon Mobile Secure Multi-Device plans by $8. The carrier’s device activation fee also went up, and it pulled the plug on loyalty discounts,” reported TheStreet’s Patricia Battle.
The bundle worth enhance was sufficient to frustrate plenty of clients, particularly following the service’s final yr’s worth hikes and guarantees to supply extra worth.
“They’ll come up with some reason to raise prices on anything they can. I’m switching providers,” wrote one Verizon buyer on social media platform Reddit.
Then again, Verizon not too long ago launched a beneficiant program to help federal staff, army members, and first responders affected by monetary pressure, for instance, TSA staff affected by authorities shutdowns.
The corporate is offering versatile fee preparations and deferral choices to make sure these employees keep related, even when they can not pay their payments on time as a result of circumstances exterior their management.
Associated: T-Cell surprises clients with free perks past telephone plans
Verizon’s buyer satisfaction lags behind T-Cell’s
As clients eagerly await the promised worth propositions and different adjustments, the corporate’s satisfaction score exhibits the service nonetheless lags behind T-Cell.
Telephone service client satisfaction charges for telephone plans:
- The common client satisfaction rating for postpaid plans below conventional carriers is 603 (on a 1,000-point scale). For pay as you go plans, the typical rating is 612.
- T-Cell ranks the very best in postpaid and pay as you go, with satisfaction scores of 631 and 629, respectively.
- Verizon takes second place in postpaid with a 593 rating and third place for pay as you go plans with a rating of 602.
- AT&T falls behind Verizon with a satisfaction rating of 587 for postpaid, however leads above it in pay as you go with a rating of 604.
Supply: J.D. Energy
“Attracting customers with network quality and pricing is just the first step. True loyalty comes from how easy it is for customers to work with a carrier once they’re in the system, especially when it comes to resolving issues, managing bills and getting answers quickly,” acknowledged Carl Lepper, senior director of know-how, media, and telecom at J.D. Energy.
Lepper stated that for wi-fi carriers the very best technique is to “take care of the customer they already have.”
With fewer staff and extra AI integration, it stays to be seen how clients will react, particularly as some shoppers turn into more and more skeptical of AI.
Shoppers and AI:
- 79% of shoppers strongly want interacting with a human agent over an AI assistant.
- 56% of individuals report having general destructive emotions about firms utilizing AI as a part of their buyer expertise.
- 81% of shoppers consider that firms are adopting AI primarily to get monetary savings, slightly than to truly enhance the service for the consumer.
Supply: Survey Monkey
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