By Bobby White

Verizon Communications said Thursday it lost $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2003, attributing it to the costs of an employee buyout in which the company shed 21,000 jobs.

The job reduction cost Verizon, the nation’s largest phone service provider, $3.1 billion.

The cuts were an effort to close the door on a lackluster period and focus on moving forward. Verizon, like SBC Communications, faces stiff competition from smaller phone companies that offer local and long-distance service. In addition, the two phone giants have to deal with a steady decline in wire lines and customers who rely more on cellphones and e-mail.

The buyouts were designed «to put a couple of bad years behind them,» said David Yedwab, a telecommunications analyst with Eastern Management Group, a New Jersey research firm. «They want to put themselves in a position to grow in 2004.»

Verizon’s loss amounted to 53 cents per share of common stock for the period that ended Dec. 31. In the same period in 2002, the company posted a profit of $2.29 billion, or 83 cents per share.

Excluding the buyout, Verizon earned $1.6 billion, or 58 cents a share, for the quarter.

Yedwab said some of Verizon’s and SBC’s land-line losses could be attributed to people who are ridding themselves of a second phone line, a throwback to the dial-up days.

SBC is able to counter the shift to wireless with Cingular, its venture with BellSouth. Verizon can do the same with Verizon Wireless.

That division leads its industry with 35 million subscribers, and the company said Thursday that it continues to grow. For the fourth quarter, Verizon Wireless recorded 1.5 million new subscribers. Its revenue grew 14.6 percent to $6 billion.

The company also stretched into new markets to offset its losses. Verizon throughout the year aggressively pursued long-distance markets and beefed up its digital subscriber line base.

The company added 736,000 long-distance lines in the fourth quarter, closing the year with 16.6 million, and 203,000 DSL customers, ending with 2.3 million.

Verizon aims to continue its growth in new markets. Last month, the company said it will upgrade its infrastructure with voice-over-Internet technology. It also will concentrate on attracting more business customers with an upgrade in its wireless data network.

Speaking at its analyst conference Thursday, Ivan Seldenberg, president and chief executive of Verizon, said talk of a buyout of AT&T Wireless by another wireless operator will not slow the company’s push for growth.

«There is no question that the wireless segment has too many players,» Seidenberg said. «Any transaction that makes the industry structure slightly more rational is a good thing.»

Robert Rosenberg, an analyst with Insight Corp., a New Jersey-based telecom research company, said Verizon is pushing hard to be prepared for a surge in competition from cable.

Verizon «has not seen the real competition; the wind will hit them soon,» Rosenberg said. «Very shortly, cable will be going after local phone service and long-distance. Initially it might be a shock.»

To counter some of the «bundling» that cable will offer, with local, long-distance, cable content and possibly broadband all in one, Verizon is slated to roll out satellite television service during the first quarter of 2004 through an agreement with DirecTV. The company will also offer a push-to-talk walkie-talkie service similar to Nextel’s.

For 2003, Verizon reported a $3 billion profit on $67.7 billion in revenue, compared with a $4 billion profit on $67.3 billion in revenue for 2002.

Verizon had about 13,000 employees in North Texas before the buyouts reduced the company’s worldwide work force by 9.8 percent.