Verizon reports 5.6% fall in Q4 revenue

Verizon Communications Inc, whose deal to buy Yahoo Inc's core assets has been cast into doubt by data breaches at the internet company, reported a 5.6% fall in quarterly revenue on Tuesday as it struggles to fend off rivals in a maturing US wireless market.

Verizon added a net 591,000 retail postpaid subscribers - those who pay their bills on a monthly basis - in the fourth-quarter ended Dec 31, far fewer than the 726,00 analysts had expected, according to market research firm FactSet StreetAccount.

Verizon's operating revenue fell for the third straight quarter, to $32.34 billion, from $34.25 billion in the same period of 2015.

Talk that Verizon may demand for better terms from Yahoo intensified in December after the internet pioneer disclosed that a breach in 2013 had exposed data from more than 1 billion user accounts. Yahoo said in September another breach in 2014 had compromised the accounts of more than 500 million users.

Taking into account the two breaches, Yahoo said on Monday that its deal with Verizon was expected to wrap up in the second quarter instead of the first quarter, putting to rest some investor concerns about the deal's future.

Verizon said on Tuesday it continued to work with Yahoo to assess the impact of data breaches.