Verizon CEO Dan Schulman has called for a "full reboot" at the US carrier, as it reported a mixed third quarter.

For the quarter, Verizon posted operating revenues of $33.8 billion, an increase of 1.5 percent.

Schulman, former CEO at PayPal, was appointed CEO at Verizon earlier this month, replacing Hans Vestberg.

During his first earnings call as CEO, which came less than a month after taking the helm at Verizon, Schulman paid tribute to Vestberg's seven-year tenure.

"Hans executed a series of technology-related investments that have positioned Verizon for success by building an enviable network and a strong foundation we can leverage going forward," he told analysts on the call.

Schulman's appointment represents a new era for Verizon, which is pushing to expand its fiber plans. The carrier is currently pushing to complete its $20 billion acquisition of Frontier Communications, as the telco competes in this market with rivals AT&T and T-Mobile.

In the earnings call, Schulman emphasized plans to focus around three key pillars in order to drive growth at the company. The first pillar, he notes, is around "delighting" its customers.

"The existing status quo is not acceptable for us. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't fully confident in our ability to pivot. The vision has three pillars to it," said Schulman.

"The first pillar is about shifting from being a technology-centric to being a customer-centric company. This is about delighting our customers. This is about growing through retention. Basically, my aspiration is I want us to have the lowest churn rate in the industry."

He calls for a "full reboot of what Verizon means in the marketplace," stating that the other two pillars will focus on driving sustainable revenue growth and carrying out a full review of CapEx spend and capital allocation.

Job cuts incoming?

During the call, Schulman also outlined intentions to reduce the entire cost base at the company, in favor of pushing marketing and customer experience to drive mobility and broadband growth.

Schulman's comments suggest that jobs will be lost over the next few years to achieve this.

"We will be a simpler, leaner, and scrappier business. This work is overdue and will be multi-year and an ongoing way of life for us," said Schulman.

He then explained his ambition to utilize AI to drive these cost efficiency savings.

"I am a strong believer in the growing power and resulting opportunities created by AI. We have barely scratched the surface of how AI-powered innovation can transform our customer experience," he added.

"I intend to use AI as a key tool to simplify offers, improve the customer experience, and reduce churn through smart, consistent, and more personalized marketing and offers."

Verizon can't get enough of fiber

Unsurprisingly, fiber was a key talking point. The carrier said it expects its $20bn Frontier acquisition to complete next year as planned.

For Verizon, that particular deal is a big deal, as the acquisition will allow the carrier to serve 29 million fiber passings, bringing it closer to rival AT&T, which has more than 30 million already.

Schulman adds that Verizon will continue to dip its toes into the market to build out its fiber footprint.

"We will continue to expand our fiber footprint through our own build and with strategic partnerships," he said.

Earlier this week, Verizon signed a deal with Tillman Global Holdings affiliate, Eaton Fiber LLC, to further expand the carrier's fiber push in the US.

In the call, Tony Skiadas, CFO, Verizon, explained that the partnership will help Verizon leverage its fiber-optic service, Fios.

"It's a capital light partnership and it gives us the opportunity to go outside, outside of the pro forma footprint that we have and Frontier has, and to increase the convergence opportunity. In this case, the fiber is going to be built to our standards, leveraging the Verizon brand and bringing Fios to more and more locations," said Skiadas.

For the quarter, Verizon added 306,000 broadband net additions, while it added 61,000 Fios Internet additions, its best quarterly result for two years.

In total, Verizon grew its total broadband connections to more than 13.2 million, up 11.1 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the carrier also added 261,000 FWA additions during Q3, growing its subscriber base to nearly 5.4 million. It wasn't all growth for Verizon, however, with the telco reporting that consumer post-paid phone subscribers, dropped by 7,000 compared to the 18,000 net additions it posted for the same quarter last year.