The telecommunications company hauled in a net of 568,000 new postpaid phone subscribers in the fourth quarter, well above the 488,000 that analysts tracked by FactSet had been modeling. Most of those — or 426,000 — came within the retail consumer business, which also saw its highest additions in five years, according to Friday’s release.

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) stock is climbing Friday following the company's fourth-quarter earnings release. The telecom company's share price was up 1.3% as of 12:15 p.m. ET and had been up as much as 3.9% earlier in the daily session.

Verizon Communications’ earnings surpassed Wall Street’s expectations as higher prices for its plans helped the company’s wireless service business make more money than a year ago. Verizon reported adjusted earnings of $1.