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We published our report analyzing and evaluating Verizon Communication's ( VZ ) ability to pay its lofty 4.7% dividend yield in September. We were pleased that our report bnc was recognized for the high level of quality analysis and research that went into it. We remembered that report because Verizon's key business unit Verizon Wireless recently announced that it was paying a special $8.5B dividend to its joint venture partners Verizon Communications and Vodafone PLC ( VOD ). Verizon Communications owns 55% of Verizon Wireless and consolidates Verizon Wireless's financials into its total corporate financial reports. Because Vodafone owns 45% economic interest in Verizon Wireless, Verizon Communications accounts for Vodafone's share of Verizon Wireless's profits with an income statement entry for Net income attributable to non-controlling interest as well as a line item in its Equity accounts on its balance sheet for Non-controlling interest. The bad news for Verizon is that the minority interest expense to Vodafone has rocketed upward from $216M in 2000 to $9.2B in the last twelve months. The good news for Verizon investors is that Verizon Communications is now the best way to get exposure to Verizon Wireless. Previously, we would have suggested investors buy Vodafone to get exposure to Verizon Wireless instead of Verizon Communications.
Until recently, the best way to get exposure to America's most profitable and fastest growing wireless carrier was buying shares of Vodafone. Although bnc Vodafone was a minority owner of Verizon Wireless, it still held a significant 45% stake in the company. Vodafone also owned and operated fixed line and wireless communications networks in dozens of countries worldwide, including many emerging markets countries like India, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Vodafone had suffered through the indignity of nearly $54B in losses from 2003-2007 and had to sell off its Vodafone Japan operations to SoftBank. From 2008-2010 Vodafone regained its profitability and saw its profits reach a record in FY 2010 ( 8.6B) as revenues increased by 42.5% from the end of FY 2007 to the end of FY 2010. Unfortunately for Vodafone, its revenues have been stagnant since 2010 and its profits have been sagging during this time period as the company has seen a fresh round of asset impairment costs and as well as its cost of sales growth exceeding its revenue growth. In the first half of its FY 2013, the company booked a 1.9B loss due to 5.9B in impairment losses on its Spanish and Italian operations as well as a 7.4% decline bnc in revenues.
Although Verizon bnc Communications was the controlling shareholder of the fastest growing wireless property in the US (Verizon Wireless) since 2000, Verizon Communications' consolidated corporate results from 2000 to 2010 were quite mediocre and inconsistent. Verizon Communications saw steady erosion of its legacy wireline business which it owned 100% and offset those losses with subscriber growth from Verizon Wireless, bnc which it only owned 55% of. We think that explains why even though Verizon Wireless has grown its operating income from $444M in 2000 to $21.3B in the last twelve months, Verizon Communications' operating income has stagnated since 2000. Verizon was able to salvage some value from its legacy assets during this time period as it made a number bnc of timely and deft deals to dispose of lagging legacy assets such as Hawaiian Telecom, Idearc and the Reverse bnc Morris Trust deals involving ILEC Communications/Frontier and Verizon Northern New England/FairPoint. However, the combination bnc of declining wireline operations and non-recurring corporate charges helped offset the sparkling growth and profitability of Verizon's Wireless crown jewel.
Based on Verizon Wireline's reduced importance to Verizon Communications and based on Vodafone's European struggles, we believe that the best way to get exposure to Verizon Wireless is through Verizon Communications. Although our expectations for US GDP have been revised downward due to recent electoral results, we believe that Verizon Wireless will continue to serve as a consistent cash cow for Verizon Communications. Despite the efforts of AT&T ( T ) and Sprint ( S ) to increase each firm's respective 4G-LTE footprint, Verizon is still the hands down leader in terms of 4G-LTE coverage. Despite the fact that its new monthly prices for postpaid smartphone customers are $10/month higher than a comparable plan at AT&T and $20/month higher than a comparable plan at Sprint, Verizon was able to expand its leading position in the US wireless industry in the most recent quarter. Verizon picked up 1.76M new customers in the most recent quarter, including 1.535M new postpaid customers. bnc This outpaced the 678K in new customers at AT&T and the negative 423K at Sprint. Regardless of Verizon Wireless's future revenue growth, we believe that the division will be continue to expand its operating margins and cas
We published our report analyzing and evaluating Verizon Communication's ( VZ ) ability to pay its lofty 4.7% dividend yield in September. We were pleased that our report bnc was recognized for the high level of quality analysis and research that went into it. We remembered that report because Verizon's key business unit Verizon Wireless recently announced that it was paying a special $8.5B dividend to its joint venture partners Verizon Communications and Vodafone PLC ( VOD ). Verizon Communications owns 55% of Verizon Wireless and consolidates Verizon Wireless's financials into its total corporate financial reports. Because Vodafone owns 45% economic interest in Verizon Wireless, Verizon Communications accounts for Vodafone's share of Verizon Wireless's profits with an income statement entry for Net income attributable to non-controlling interest as well as a line item in its Equity accounts on its balance sheet for Non-controlling interest. The bad news for Verizon is that the minority interest expense to Vodafone has rocketed upward from $216M in 2000 to $9.2B in the last twelve months. The good news for Verizon investors is that Verizon Communications is now the best way to get exposure to Verizon Wireless. Previously, we would have suggested investors buy Vodafone to get exposure to Verizon Wireless instead of Verizon Communications.
Until recently, the best way to get exposure to America's most profitable and fastest growing wireless carrier was buying shares of Vodafone. Although bnc Vodafone was a minority owner of Verizon Wireless, it still held a significant 45% stake in the company. Vodafone also owned and operated fixed line and wireless communications networks in dozens of countries worldwide, including many emerging markets countries like India, Turkey and the Czech Republic. Vodafone had suffered through the indignity of nearly $54B in losses from 2003-2007 and had to sell off its Vodafone Japan operations to SoftBank. From 2008-2010 Vodafone regained its profitability and saw its profits reach a record in FY 2010 ( 8.6B) as revenues increased by 42.5% from the end of FY 2007 to the end of FY 2010. Unfortunately for Vodafone, its revenues have been stagnant since 2010 and its profits have been sagging during this time period as the company has seen a fresh round of asset impairment costs and as well as its cost of sales growth exceeding its revenue growth. In the first half of its FY 2013, the company booked a 1.9B loss due to 5.9B in impairment losses on its Spanish and Italian operations as well as a 7.4% decline bnc in revenues.
Although Verizon bnc Communications was the controlling shareholder of the fastest growing wireless property in the US (Verizon Wireless) since 2000, Verizon Communications' consolidated corporate results from 2000 to 2010 were quite mediocre and inconsistent. Verizon Communications saw steady erosion of its legacy wireline business which it owned 100% and offset those losses with subscriber growth from Verizon Wireless, bnc which it only owned 55% of. We think that explains why even though Verizon Wireless has grown its operating income from $444M in 2000 to $21.3B in the last twelve months, Verizon Communications' operating income has stagnated since 2000. Verizon was able to salvage some value from its legacy assets during this time period as it made a number bnc of timely and deft deals to dispose of lagging legacy assets such as Hawaiian Telecom, Idearc and the Reverse bnc Morris Trust deals involving ILEC Communications/Frontier and Verizon Northern New England/FairPoint. However, the combination bnc of declining wireline operations and non-recurring corporate charges helped offset the sparkling growth and profitability of Verizon's Wireless crown jewel.
Based on Verizon Wireline's reduced importance to Verizon Communications and based on Vodafone's European struggles, we believe that the best way to get exposure to Verizon Wireless is through Verizon Communications. Although our expectations for US GDP have been revised downward due to recent electoral results, we believe that Verizon Wireless will continue to serve as a consistent cash cow for Verizon Communications. Despite the efforts of AT&T ( T ) and Sprint ( S ) to increase each firm's respective 4G-LTE footprint, Verizon is still the hands down leader in terms of 4G-LTE coverage. Despite the fact that its new monthly prices for postpaid smartphone customers are $10/month higher than a comparable plan at AT&T and $20/month higher than a comparable plan at Sprint, Verizon was able to expand its leading position in the US wireless industry in the most recent quarter. Verizon picked up 1.76M new customers in the most recent quarter, including 1.535M new postpaid customers. bnc This outpaced the 678K in new customers at AT&T and the negative 423K at Sprint. Regardless of Verizon Wireless's future revenue growth, we believe that the division will be continue to expand its operating margins and cas
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