Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) expects to sell more iPhone 5s in the next quarter

America's No. 1 network services provider Verizon Communications Inc.(NYSE:VZ) sold 6.8 million smartphones in the September quarter, with service revenues rising 7.5 percent on year and 1.8 million new customers getting into contact arrangements with it.

Verizon sold 3.1 million iPhones last quarter, only 651,000 of which were the new iPhone 5, for which it blamed Apple’s supply constraints.

Fran Shammo, Verizon's chief financial officer, said on a conference call with analysts that the company expects a higher volume of iPhone 5 sales in the current quarter, and, accordingly, "some deterioration of margin" over the next three months.

The company said that average revenue per account rose 6.5 percent to $145.20 per month. The company has moved away from reporting average revenues per user to average revenue per account after introduction of the Share Everything plans that allow multiple devices to dip into a single bucket of data.

Total revenues for the three-month period were $16.2 billion and sale of smartphones accounted for more than half of its mobile users.

Its operating revenues for the quarter were up 3.9 percent on year to $29 billion while the operating income was at $5.5 billion.

Commenting on the results, Chief executive Lowell McAdam said, "Verizon continued to deliver double-digit earnings growth and strong cash generation, and we remain solidly on track to meet our financial objectives for the year."

Its other segments also saw growth. It added 136,000 new FiOS internet connections and 119,000 new FiOS video connections.

Average revenue per user has now risen above $150, the company said, adding that two-thirds of the customers now used FiOS for their phone, internet and video services.