Sprint showed the slowest customer growth out of all the carriers as it continues to work through its painful network upgrade process. February 11, 2014 4:37 AM PST (Credit: CNET) While Sprint saw a return to growth, it also continued to bleed money. Sprint, owned by Japanese carrier SoftBank, posted a loss of $1.04 billion, or 26 cents a share, which was narrower than its year-earlier loss of $1.32 billion, or 44 cents a share. Its revenue inched up to $9.14 billion from $9 billion a year ago. Related stories Sprint reportedly second-guessing T-Mobile deal Calif., carriers headed for battle over 'kill switch' bill Apple, Microsoft join carriers in $750M pledge to education FCC chief reportedly skeptical on Sprint, T-Mobile deal Sprint to hook up 50K students with free wireless service From a customer growth perspective, Sprint is once again bringing up the rear of the pack. The company added a net new 477,000 wireless customers in the fourth quarter, a dramatic improvement over the defections suffered a year ago, but still far short of its rivals. More importantly, the number of new contract customers shrank considerably, falling to just 58,000 new subscribers from 401,000 a year ago. Contract customers are considered the most valuable because they are committed to long-term service agreements and tend to pay more each months. Its prepaid customer growth saw a less significant slowdown, although its wholesale business swung back to growth after losing customers a year ago. More to come.
Sprint showed the slowest customer growth out of all the carriers as it continues to work through its painful network upgrade process.
(Credit: CNET)
While Sprint saw a return to growth, it also continued to bleed money.
Sprint, owned by Japanese carrier SoftBank, posted a loss of $1.04 billion, or 26 cents a share, which was narrower than its year-earlier loss of $1.32 billion, or 44 cents a share.
Its revenue inched up to $9.14 billion from $9 billion a year ago.
Related stories
- Sprint reportedly second-guessing T-Mobile deal
- Calif., carriers headed for battle over 'kill switch' bill
- Apple, Microsoft join carriers in $750M pledge to education
- FCC chief reportedly skeptical on Sprint, T-Mobile deal
- Sprint to hook up 50K students with free wireless service
From a customer growth perspective, Sprint is once again bringing up the rear of the pack.
The company added a net new 477,000 wireless customers in the fourth quarter, a dramatic improvement over the defections suffered a year ago, but still far short of its rivals. More importantly, the number of new contract customers shrank considerably, falling to just 58,000 new subscribers from 401,000 a year ago.
Contract customers are considered the most valuable because they are committed to long-term service agreements and tend to pay more each months.
Its prepaid customer growth saw a less significant slowdown, although its wholesale business swung back to growth after losing customers a year ago.
More to come.
