Spark reported a 2.5% rise in operating earnings to $986 million in the period from $962million in the previous corresponding period.
Revenue was down 1% to $3.5billion and costs fell 2.3% to $2.5billion.
An ordinary dividend of 22 cents per share was declared along with a special dividend of 3cps for the financial year.
Mr Verbeist said Spark had been transformed from the ground up.
"More customers are choosing us. We have a sound long-term strategy in place, a strong 2017 financial year game plan and proven execution skills."
The next phase of the strategy was concentrated on delivering market-leading customer experiences.
Spark was determined to do all it could to play a bigger role in New Zealand’s digital future and be "truly useful" for its customers and for New Zealand, he said.
The company’s profit before tax of $512million was up 6.2% from $482million in the pcp.
Paying a higher rate of tax in 2016 of 28% compared with 22% last year meant the reported profit fell 1.3% to $370million from $375million in the pcp.
Craigs Investment Partners broker Chris Timms said Spark’s strategy was more of the same as far as he could tell.
The key elements were differentiating bundles with Spotify and Lightbox by targeting a rise of 50,000 subscriptions to 200,000 next year; and Wi-Fi — margin expansion through cost reduction.
The likely stock reaction was neutral given the result and no change to the 2017 dividend policy.
"We suspect the market will remain cautious on rewarding Spark’s return to top-line growth in 2017 — ahead of evidence — given the competitive nature of its end markets and potential market structure change and the Sky Television-Vodafone merger."
Spark chief executive Simon Moutter said Spark was winning in the mobile market.
Mobile revenue was up 11.3% to $1.1billion, well ahead of Vodafone’s recently published estimate of $1.06billion.
In broadband, Spark’s focus on higher-value plans and adding customer value through digital devices, such as Lightbox and smart living solution Morepork, had helped a 5.4% growth in revenue.
There had also been growth in business IT services revenue which was up 11%.
"In media, while we’re generally supportive of market consolidation where it leads to better outcomes for consumers, Sky [Television’s] monopoly in premium sports content — and the lack of a viable and credible wholesale market that provides better online, on-demand choices for New Zealanders to watch their sport — is a key concern."
Spark believed a merged Sky-Vodafone would be able to leverage its monopoly power in the sports content market, to the detriment of consumers, Mr Moutter said.
Spark had opposed the merger in its current form in its submission to the Commerce Commission.
However, the most immediate concern was customers experiencing unacceptable delays when contacting Spark call centres, he said.
Supply constraints and fault restorations were beyond the control of internet service providers such as Spark, but the company did not shy away its responsibility for the experiences of its customers.
"This is our highest priority right now and we are moving fast on a number of fronts. While we still have a long way to go, wait-time performance has been improving markedly in recent weeks as a result of the work we’ve done to date."
