Verizon CEO says it’s time to stop treating customers this way  

Verizon’s current CEO Daniel Schulman quickly gained a reputation as a very bold and honest executive. For example, during the third-quarter 2025 earnings call, Schulman openly admitted that Verizon’s recent financial growth was built on a strategy that is not sustainable. 

“…A strategic approach that relies too much on price without subscriber growth is not a sustainable strategy,” Schulman said during the call, as reported by The Motley Fool. 

In January, during the Q4 earnings call, Verizon CFO Anthony Skiadas confirmed that the company lost 2.25 million customers over the last three years “largely from prior pricing actions as well as competition.” 

Schulman, who took the helm in October 2025, highlighted that raising prices without proportionally increasing value “irritates some customers.” He added that the company stopped doing that and is starting to add more value. 

More recently, the CEO opened up at the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington about how the carrier can no longer rely on its reputation of providing the best wireless network. He also shared an important message to customers. 

Verizon CEO says “you have to treat people like humans, not like accounts”

According to Schulman, Verizon can no longer run its business successfully on the claims that it offers the best wireless network. Specifically, the CEO noted that while Verizon might still technically have the top service, the gap between it and the competition has shrunk, reported Bloomberg. 

“We probably do have, objectively speaking, the best network, but the differential on that is less than it used to be, and we now need to do all of the basic stuff,” Schulman said at the conference. 

Competing with rivals T-Mobile and AT&T, the CEO said the company has been giving market share to competitors that offer more attractive deals. “We need to simplify promotions, we need to simplify plans and just make it easier for people to do business with us,” he said, per Bloomberg. 

More importantly, Schulman believes that Verizon needs to start prioritizing the basics of customer services. 

 “You have to treat people like humans, not like accounts.”

Schulman didn’t specify what kind of changes he plans to implement to change the company’s approach towards customers, but earlier this year, during the fourth quarter earnings call, he teased that the company is “targeting the launch of our new value proposition in the first half of this year.” 

Verizon recently shared that it will report first-quarter 2026 earnings on Monday, April 27, 2026, so it is possible it will unveil new value offerings then. 

13,000 layoffs were inevitable, says Verizon CEO as he bets on AI 

Schulman, who is also the former CEO of PayPal, was reluctant to take on the role of Verizon CEO and only agreed when he saw the company’s decline compared to the competition. Before Schulman became CEO, he was a Verizon board member. The company was closing its third straight quarter of customer loss, and he was appointed with the goal of turning things around, writes Phone Arena. 

Since taking the helm, Schulman already made several bold moves, including layoffs of more than 13,000 employees to “simplify” operations. Employees affected by the layoffs were given access to a $20 million retraining fund that helps people find new job opportunities in the artificial intelligence (AI) era. 

During the call, Schulman said the mass layoffs were “inevitable because if we don’t have enough money to put back into our value proposition to customers, we are going to continue to shrink.” 

On Wednesday, April 15, Schulman also invited other Fortune 100 CEOs to join him in supporting AI retraining initiatives, as he continues to bet on further AI integration. The carrier already has access to and is using Anthropic’s powerful new Mythos model. 

“It’s just a fact: Living in the age of AI, it’s going to change everything. If you’re scared of it, that’s problematic. You need to embrace it for all that it is,” Schulman said, per Phone Arena. 

Verizon’s CEO says “you have to treat people like humans, not like accounts.”

Mino Surkala/Shutterstock.com

Verizon’s recent moves and customer reactions 

Despite arguing that the company lost customers due to previous price increases without additional value, Verizon recently raised the cost of its popular Netflix and HBO Max streaming bundle. 

The streaming perk previously offered Verizon customers on eligible phone and home internet plans Netflix and HBO Max subscriptions (with ads) for only $10 a month, saving them $8.98 monthly.  According to the company’s official website, starting May 6, the streaming bundle will increase from $10 to $13.

“Last year, Verizon raised prices for its myPlan and New Verizon Plan accounts due to ‘rising operational costs.’ It also increased prices for its Verizon Mobile Protect Multi-Device and Verizon Mobile Secure Multi-Device plans by $8. The carrier’s device activation fee also went up, and it pulled the plug on loyalty discounts,” reported TheStreet’s Patricia Battle. 

The bundle price increase was enough to frustrate a number of customers, especially following the carrier’s last year’s price hikes and promises to offer more value. 

“They’ll come up with some reason to raise prices on anything they can. I’m switching providers,” wrote one Verizon customer on social media platform Reddit. 

On the other hand, Verizon recently launched a generous program to assist federal employees, military members, and first responders affected by financial strain, for example, TSA employees affected by government shutdowns. 

The company is providing flexible payment arrangements and deferral options to ensure these workers stay connected, even if they can’t pay their bills on time due to circumstances outside their control. 

Related: T-Mobile surprises customers with free perks beyond phone plans

Verizon’s customer satisfaction lags behind T-Mobile’s

As customers eagerly await the promised value propositions and other changes, the company’s satisfaction rating shows the carrier still lags behind T-Mobile. 

Phone carrier consumer satisfaction rates for phone plans:The average consumer satisfaction score for postpaid plans under traditional carriers is 603 (on a 1,000-point scale). For prepaid plans, the average score is 612.T-Mobile ranks the highest in postpaid and prepaid, with satisfaction scores of 631 and 629, respectively. Verizon takes second place in postpaid with a 593 score and third place for prepaid plans with a score of 602.   AT&T falls behind Verizon with a satisfaction score of 587 for postpaid, but leads above it in prepaid with a score of 604. 
Source: J.D. Power 

“Attracting customers with network quality and pricing is just the first step. True loyalty comes from how easy it is for customers to work with a carrier once they’re in the system, especially when it comes to resolving issues, managing bills and getting answers quickly,” stated Carl Lepper, senior director of technology, media, and telecom at J.D. Power.  

Lepper said that for wireless carriers the best strategy is to “take care of the customer they already have.” 

With fewer employees and more AI integration, it remains to be seen how customers will react, especially as some consumers become increasingly skeptical of AI. 

Consumers and AI:79% of consumers strongly prefer interacting with a human agent over an AI assistant.56% of people report having overall negative feelings about companies using AI as part of their customer experience.81% of consumers believe that companies are adopting AI primarily to save money, rather than to actually improve the service for the user.
Source: Survey Monkey 

Related: Dollar General rolls out limited deals for value-driven shoppers

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