Verizon Wireless' second quarter financial results place it at the top of the domestic carrier charts, beating long-time rival AT&T in terms of churn, turnover and customer additions.

The wireless carrier reported 1.5 million net customer additions, a record low 1.12 percent churn rate and total revenues of $12.1 billion, an increase of almost 12 percent over last year's Q2 numbers. The carrier says that its wireless operating income margin was 28.6 percent, its highest ever.

"These numbers place us in the lead, since we have the highest net adds of anyone in the industry, the highest customer loyalty based on churn rate and the highest profitability," said Nancy Stark, spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, Basking Ridge, NJ. "We had the lowest turnover of anyone in the industry and we have for several years running."

Of the carrier's 1.5 million total net customer additions, almost all were retail post-paid.

Gross retail customer additions were up 3.2 percent over last year.

The company claims to have the most retail customers in the industry.

Wireless service revenues made up $10.5 billion of Verizon's total revenue, which was $12.1 billion.

Wireless service revenues are up 11.6 percent year-over-year, driven by customer growth and demand for data services.

"One of the main drivers is increased data revenues, including PC cards providing broadband access, email and text messaging, which continues to grow significantly," Ms. Stark said. "Our subscribers sent and received 70 billion text messages and 1.4 billion picture and video messages this quarter.

"Certainly data has experienced a very high growth rate and we see that continuing into the future," she said.

Data revenues grew 45.3 percent over the prior year, contributing close to $2.6 billion.

The company reported almost 50 million retail data customers in June, representing about three-quarters of its retail customer base, a 25.6 percent increase since last year.

Verizon Wireless's ARPU levels increased year over year for the ninth quarter in a row.

"One of the reasons for this growth is the increase in popularity of integrated wireless devices such as smartphones and PDAs," Ms. Stark said. "We offer a broad spectrum of these Web-enabled handsets, including Palm Trios and BlackBerrys."

Broadband devices recently launched by Verizon Wireless include the BlackBerry Curve 8330, the Moto Q 9c and the Palm Centro.

The company also announced the availability of three new multimedia handsets by LG: the Dare, featuring an all-touch screen operation; the Decoy, the world's first phone with a built-in detachable Bluetooth headset; and the Chocolate 3, with enhanced music features.

The carrier also launched the Glyde by Samsung, the Motorola w755 and the Nokia 6205 (The Dark Knight Edition).

Although Verizon's financials surpassed its rivals, wireless growth continues for AT&T in the second quarter with subscriber gains, increased wireless data revenues and improved margins (see story).

To further its expansion plans, Verizon Wireless is acquiring Rural Cellular and Alltel Wireless (see story).

"These moves extend the Verizon Wireless footprint," Ms. Stark said. "We'll bring our products and services to many new subscribers and expand our network to a lot of rural areas, allowing our current customers to be on the Verizon Wireless network when they visit those areas."

Another factor in Verizon Wireless's expansion is the 700 MHz spectrum that the company gained in the FCC's auction. Verizon will use the spectrum to build its 4G LTE (fourth generation, Long Term Evolution) network in 2010.

"4G LTE will be an extremely fast platform, allowing for very robust services," Ms. Stark said. "It's also more of a global standard, as a lot of companies worldwide will use that as their fourth generation technology base."

The company also announced a five-year agreement with Qwest Communications International for Qwest to market and sell Verizon Wireless service beginning this summer.

Following the carrier's first Open Development Initiative (ODI) conference held in March, Verizon Wireless certified the first device for use on its network under ODI.

Provided by SupplyNet Communications, the device is a machine-to-machine wireless inventory telemetry system to monitor inventories at customer locations and send alerts when set levels are reached.

"ODI was created so that third parties can develop products and devices to provide additional choices for our customers," Ms. Stark said. "We've shared our technology standards and we put each product through our device testing lab, then that third party can go out and market the device.

"We think that there are limitless possibilities for wireless devices to be embedded in all sorts of electronics, some we can't even imagine now, especially entering the world of 4G," she said. "ODI will increase innovation in the wireless space."

For now, the company is focused on the continued expansion of its nationwide 3G wireless broadband network, available to more than 256 million Americans by the end of the second quarter. The company claims that more than 60 percent of its retail customers -- 40.5 million -- had 3G broadband-capable devices at the end of the quarter.

Verizon Wireless has made some strides in the music business as well.

It recently launched V CAST Music in conjunction with Rhapsody, combining the company's mobile music service with Rhapsody's desktop music service (see story).

Verizon Wireless customers completed 36.5 million music and video downloads during Q2.

"The big picture is that we have the strongest brand in wireless today, which is built on our network reliability," Ms. Stark said. "We have the most retail customers, non-wholesale customers who choose our brand and who we serve directly."