Verizon reports loss in Q4, net subscribers increase the most in three years thanks to record iPhone sales

Verizon added 1.5 million net retail customers in Q4 - that's the most the carrier has done in three years, riding high on the iPhone 4S excitement.

Its overall 7.7 million smartphone additions fell a bit short of expectations, so the 1.2 million postpaid subscribers it added were mainly due to doubling the iPhone 4S units sold to over four million, compared to the previous quarter.

The carrier still logged a loss of $2.02 billion because of one-time pension plan revaluation charge of $3.4 billion, but also thanks to the large susbsidies it shells out for all those iPhones. The carrier is, of course, hoping to recuperate the initial investment over the life span of a typical contract, which brings about $2000 to it on average.

One of the expected, but still interesting developments is the huge spike in data revenues - the carrier raked in $6.3 billion of data revenue, representing roughly 42% of its total.

This only shows the growing importance of data for carriers, with the traditional channels like voice and especially text with its huge margins, likely to get less and less important down the road. Verizon now stands at 108.7 million total subscribers.