Sprint loses customers in Q3

Sprint reported a net profit of USD 383 million for the third quarter, reversing a loss of USD 767 million a year earlier. The result benefited from a one-time gain of USD 1.4 billion on a write-up of its investment in Clearwire and also included pre-tax expenses of USD 217 million for its takeover by Softbank and its acquisition of the rest of Clearwire. Adjusted EBITDA improved 5 percent year-on-year to USD 1.34 billion, helped by service revenue growth at the Sprint brand and the shutdown of the Nextel platform. 

The Sprint platform lost a net 95,000 customers in the three months, as growth in prepaid and wholesale could not offset a loss of 360,000 postpaid customers. The company lost another 218,000 customers at the acquired Clearwire and US Cellular activities, giving it a total mobile base of 54.877 million at the end of September. 

The operator said it posted record service revenue and ARPU at the Sprint postpaid activities, at respectively USD 5.835 billion and USD 64.28. ARPU was supported by sales of nearly 5 million smartphones in the quarter, including 1.4 million iPhones. 

Sprint said the further roll-out of its LTE network should improve its competitive positioning further, with a target of 200 million people covered by year-end. The company maintained its full-year outlook for adjusted EBITDA of USD 5.1-5.3 billion and capex of around USD 8 billion.