Verizon lifts annual forecasts, signs $1 billion fiber deal with Google

Verizon raised its annual adjusted profit forecast and said it had secured a more than $1 billion deal with Google to provide dark fiber connectivity for its data centers, sending the telecom operator’s shares up 3%.

More agreements are expected by the year-end that could generate multiple billions ‌of dollars ⁠in revenue ⁠over the next several years, Verizon CEO Dan Schulman said on a post earnings call.

The AI infrastructure buildout is opening a new avenue for telecom operators to monetize their fiber networks as hyperscalers seek high-capacity connectivity between data centers.