Verizon Communications Inc's third-quarter profit fell a less-than-expected 9 percent as it added more wireless customers than analysts had forecast.

While Verizon Wireless lost some market share to AT&T Inc, the exclusive U.S. provider for Apple Inc's iPhone, said its 1.2 million net customer additions was ahead of the average estimate of 1 million customers from five analysts contacted by Reuters.

(Verizon) certainly did see some pressure from iPhone in the quarter but it's tough to complain about 1.2 million net adds, said Stifel Nicolaus analyst Chris King.

In comparison, AT&T added 2 million customers in the third quarter. Verizon Communications owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless, while Vodafone Group Plc owns the remaining stake.

Verizon's profit fell to $2.89 billion, or 41 cents per share, from $3.2 billion, or 59 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, earnings were 60 cents per share, compared with the average analyst estimate of 59 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Revenue rose 10.2 percent to $27.27 billion from $24.75 billion in the year-earlier quarter, helped by its purchase earlier this year of rural mobile operator Alltel.

Analysts had expected revenue of $27.17 billion. On a pro forma basis, as if Verizon had owned Alltel last year, revenue would have risen 0.6 percent.

Verizon added 191,000 FiOS television customers in the quarter, bringing its customer base to 2.7 million. This was well below King's expectation for 250,000, suggesting increasing competition in the quarter.

Certainly cable was a little more aggressive in the third quarter, King said.

Verizon's Chief Executive Ivan Seidenberg said that the company would improve with the economy.

Shares were up 14 cents to $28.99 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Derek Caney)

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