Verizon added 184,000 phone subscribers, its best second quarter for consumer in five years, and its revenue still slipped

Verizon sold more phone plans and less revenue. The company reported 184,000 postpaid phone net additions in the second quarter, its best consumer showing for the period in five years, and more than 550,000 net additions across mobility and broadband together. Total operating revenue still fell, to $34.3 billion, down 0.7 percent from a year earlier.

The drag was equipment. Handset revenue dropped nearly 20 percent, more than $1.2 billion, which the company attributed to lower upgrade volumes as customers keep devices longer and to its own decision to spend less on subsidizing phones. Service revenue moved the other way. Mobility and broadband service revenue rose 2.8 percent, and Verizon said it expects that pace to reach about 4.0 percent by the fourth quarter.

Reported net income was $3.9 billion, down 22.9 percent, after $1.8 billion of pretax special items that included a $746 million loss connected to the planned disposal of its international operations. Adjusted earnings, which exclude those items, were $1.30 a share, up 6.6 percent. First-half free cash flow reached $10.2 billion, up from $8.8 billion.

Verizon raised its full-year guidance for the second quarter running. It now expects adjusted earnings of $4.99 to $5.04 a share, and it lifted its buyback target for the year to as much as $4.5 billion.