In an indication that there was a slowdown in Verizon Wireless’ subscription growth during the first quarter, the carrier reported on Thursday that the number of customers joining its service during the first three months of the year was lower than the figures during the same quarter last year.

With Verizon reporting a 16 percent fall, year-on-year, in the number of subscriber additions for the first quarter to 734,000, it is apparent that, like the other carriers, Verizon’s weak quarterly subscription growth is an upshot of the predicament that most people who want a cellphone already own one.

However, despite the decline in subscription growth during the first quarter, Verizon still managed to witness a $1.7 billion profit, primarily due to the fees which is paid by the subscribers for browsing the Web, watching videos, or playing music over Verizon’s network on their smartphones and tablets.

About the slowdown in subscription growth for Verizon, independent telecom analyst Chetan Sharma said that it is highly possible that the carrier will undertake new measures to continue expanding its revenue from mobile data --- more so as the carrier’s quarterly revenue from mobile data services witnessed a 21.1 percent increase to $6.6 billion in the mentioned quarter.

Noting that Verizon has “built momentum coming out of 2011,” the carrier’s CEO Lowell McAdam said: “Our results show that we continue to execute in the key growth areas of our business.”