Verizon Communications Inc. selected Microsoft Corp. as its partner to provide Internet services to customers concluding months of speculation.

The announcement was made Wednesday at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas by Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ballmer.

Verizon is chosing Microsoft over Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc., after more than a year of speculation by industry analysts. Verizon is likely to surpass AT&T as the No. 1 mobile service in the United States, Reuters reports.

Shares of Verizon climbed 1.27 percent or 0.40 cents to $31.90 each at the New York stock Exchange on Wednesday.

Microsoft's shares were trading down 6.02 percent or $1.25 to $19.50 a share.

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