Verizon Communications Inc. posted a 15 percent earnings increase for the fourth quarter on Tuesday, as the shrinking economy did little to dampen consumer appetites for wireless, Internet and TV service. The country's second-largest telecommunications provider earned $1.24 billion, or 43 cents per share, up from $1.07 billion, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding charges mainly for job cuts, earnings were 61 cents per share, matching the expectation of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. Revenue rose 3.4 percent to $24.6 billion from a year ago. That fell slightly short of analyst expectations at $24.74 billion. Verizon Wireless added 1.4 million subscribers, slightly down from the 1.5 million it added in the third quarter. It ended the year with 72.1 million customers, putting it in second place after AT&T Inc. But Verizon Wireless closed on the purchase of Alltel Corp. on Jan. 9, giving it more than 80 million customers and vaulting it to first place in the U.S. cellular industry.