Verizon has moved on from plans to acquire cable companies: CEO

Verizon Communications Inc said on Thursday that it has moved on from plans to acquire cable companies and instead will focus on building out its own fiber infrastructure.

Speculation over a tie-up with Charter Communications Inc was building up after Chief Executive Lowell McAdam told Wall Street analysts last year that such a deal would make "industrial sense."

McAdam said on Thursday at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference that Verizon is more interested in building up its fiber infrastructure.

"We did, I guess, about a year ago, go through a process of taking a look at cable companies. But the fiber infrastructure isn't there," McAdam said.

In April, Verizon agreed to buy optical fiber from Corning Inc for at least $1.05 billion over the next three years to improve its network infrastructure.

McAdam said at the conference on Thursday the company would be acquiring content for its Oath business and a content deal is expected by the end of September.

Verizon bought Yahoo's core business for $4.48 billion in 2016. It then combined Yahoo with AOL to form a venture called Oath.

McAdam said the company expects cost savings of $10 billion over four years from operating expenses and capital expenses, which would fund their dividends in 2022.

Shares of the company were marginally down at $47.06 in morning trading.

(Reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)