Live from the Verizon analysts' conference

The bad news for the technology sector appears to have stopped short of Verizon's door, with nicely rising revenues, hope for future quarters, and words such as "confidence." It's almost nostalgic.

6:40am PT: "We are exhausted from all these questions here," Seidenberg quipped during his concluding remarks.

"We think we had a very solid quarter and an excellent year," Seidenberg maintained.

Verizon doesn't have "perfect visibility" into the year ahead, and nobody could. But "we see no reason why our momentum should not continue," according to Verizon's chairman and CEO.

6:35am PT: Doreen Toben has told the analysts that Verizon has reduced its inventory backlog on set top boxes.

6:32am PT: Also during the call, the Verizon execs have referred to femtocell technology as "the weapon of the century" for enhancing signals in broadband wireless.

6:30am PT: Verizon has just concluded the call, but not before revealing that the company will soon announce a partnership with Accenture addressing the business market. A press release about the Accenture pact is forthcoming.

6:28am PT: An analyst has asked about Verizon's plans for 4G LTE wireless and Verizon's Open Development Initiative (ODI).

Verizon is now working with its manufacturers to start trialing LTE in 2009, with commercial availability still set for 2010, the analysts were told,

A total of 29 ODI-compliant devices will be ready for deployment by the LTE time frame. Some mainly "machine-to-machine" ODI devices are ready now, in the 3G timeframe.

6:16am PT: Toben has told the analysts that Verizon started to feel the slowdown in its business market with job layoffs among its customers beginning in October. Verizon's financial and retail customer bases have been particularly hard hit, she says.

6:10am PT: In terms of cost savings, Verizon is doing consolidation in non-growth areas, according to Striegel. Verizon has also instituted customer self-service measures.

In wireless, "We're selling more smartphones," he says. Smartphones now amount to about 37 percent of all phones sold by Verizon, Verizon is decreasing its emphasis on the business sector, where it isn't particularly strong. Verizon is not focusing on pre-paid consumer market, either.

6:04am PT: The Q&A with financial analysts has begun. Seidenberg suggests that the new federal government administration has been very "open" to discussions. Verizon is holding roundtable talks with administration officials. It's too early to tell what will happen with net neutrality issues this year, he says.

6:00am PT: "All things considered, solid performance," Toben says.

Also in her remarks, Toben has highlighted the synergies and cost savings Verizon expects to achieve through the Alltel acquisition, which closed on January 9.

In wireless, she said, data services are still mostly at the stage of e-mail and messaging, with further growth ahead. 4G is also on the horizon.

5:56am PT: But the company is "well positioned to compete" in all of its markets, Toben contends.

5:55am PT: Verizon, however, is starting to see "softness" in business services, Toben says.

5:53am PT: For wireline, Verizon added 303,000 new new FiOS TV customers and 282,000 net new FiOS Internet customers. This is the highest on record for the company. The availability of FiOS in New York City was "only one factor" in this success, according to Toben. "We will continue to expand FiOS 'Triple Play' availability" as FiOS enters new markets. "FiOS remains at the center" of Verizon's consumer strategy.

There was also a 14.3 percent increase in consumer ARPU in "legacy telecom markets" and an 8.4 percent rise in revenues from "strategic business services."

5:49am PT: On the wireless side, Verizon added 1.4 million organic (non-acquisition-related) net customers. This represented 1.2 million total net customer additions, including a net customer loss under an exchange agreement related to the third quarter acquisition of Rural Cellular.

Not including customers added with the acquisition of Alltel on January 9 of this year, Verizon had 72.1 million wireless customers, and 70 million of these were retail customers. Revenues for wireless services increased by 12.3 percent and for wireless data by 41.4 percent.

5:46am PT: Doreen Toben, EVP and CFO, details Verizon's fourth quarter financial results, which center on "record growth" in FiOS Internet and TV customers and "strong sales" for Verizon Wireless. All told, 4Q revenues amounted to $24.6 billion, up 3.4 percent from the same quarter last year, with adjusted growth (non-GAAP) of 4.6 percent.

Earnings per share amounted to 43 cents in diluted EPS and 61 cents in adjusted EPS (non-GAAP) in comparison to earnings for 4Q of 2007 of 37 percent reported and 62 cents adjusted.

5:44am PT: "I share Ivan's confidence," says Denny Striegel, who points to Verizon's successful technical support for the recent Presidential inauguration.

"It was a good quarter," he says. "Customer growth was also good this quarter." Verizon also focused on improving productivity. On the telco side, Verizon has seen reductions in force.

5:37am PT: Ivan Seidenberg, chairman and CEO, speaks about how Verizon has tried to position the company for growth during the current "difficult economic climate" by installing FiOS in New York City and making "strategic acquisitions," for example. He says the results indicate "solid business performance" by every business unit.