Sprint Nextel Posts Q3 Loss As Subscribers Continue To Leave

Kansas City, MO (AHN) - Sprint Nextel Corp. announced Friday it swung to a third quarter loss as revenue dropped 12 percent with the loss of 1.4 million subscribers during the period.

The wireless carrier posted a third quarter loss of $326 million or 11 cents a share, compared to a profit of $64 million or 2 cents a share in the same period a year earlier.

Excluding one-time costs, Sprint said it would have broken even on the quarter. Analysts were expecting a profit of 3 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue fell to $8.81 billion, below the $8.85 million analysts expected. Mobile revenue fell 13 percent to $6.8 billion and wireline sales dropped 2 percent.

Sprint continues to lose subscribers as its base fell from 51.9 million last quarter to 50.5 million in the third quarter. The company had 54 million subscribers in the third quarter last year.

The company's churn rate, which measures the number of customers who cancel service, rose to nearly 2.15 percent, up from 2 percent in the previous quarter.

Sprint continues to suffer from a weak customer service reputation as many of its lost subscribers have ventured over to rivals AT&T and Verizon, who added 2 million and 1.5 million subscribers, respectively.

Shares of Sprint fell 13 percent to $3.19 in Friday afternoon trading.