Verizon Communications showed strong growth in wireless, but its third quarter earnings fell 34 percent.

The No. 2 phone company, behind AT&T, earned $1.3 billion, or 44 cents per share, compared with $1.9 billion, or 66 cents per share, in the quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose 6 percent, to $23.8 billion.

Verizon, which owns Verizon Wireless in a joint venture with Vodafone of Britain, said the wireless unit added 1.8 million new customers in the quarter. Revenue climbed 14 percent, to $11.3 billion.

"Our third-quarter results show that we have hit our stride as a leading wireless, broadband, and enterprise company," said Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon's chief executive.

But the company added 41 percent fewer internet customers in the quarter than a year ago. The total of 285,000 missed the 296,000 estimated by John Hodulik, an analyst with UBS, Bloomberg News reports.

"We haven't seen the full economic impact in telecom yet," Todd Rosenbluth, an analyst with Standard & Poor's, told Bloomberg before the results were announced. "In other sectors of the economy, we're seeing pressure. We're concerned it may have an impact on broadband growth."