Sprint reports dismal 1Q earnings

Sprint reported its first quarter earnings today and, as expected, news was not good. On the whole the carrier lost 1.09m customers, mostly from the postpaid sector. The carrier reported a $253m loss in operating income and $8.0b in revenue. The revenue was down 9% from 1Q07 and 6% from last quarter, and can be attributed to the loss of subscribers, as well as a 6% decline in ARPU to $56. Churn is at 2.45%, up from 2.3% last quarter.

These numbers don't come as a big surprise, last quarter the company lost 700,000 customers, as CEO Dan Hesse made it clear that it would take several quarters to see the results of new policies. Though they don't report separate iDEN and CDMA numbers, it has long been thought that the company is bleeding iDEN customers while still netting CDMA growth, and most industry insiders agree the sale of Nextel would help the company significantly. There have been many customer-focused changes since Hesse took over, as well as a strong, unified marketing campaign. Sprint's ARPU is significantly higher than rivals AT&T and Verizon, both of which are around $51, and with the upcoming launch of the Instinct and rumored coming of the Touch Diamond and Raphael, as well as recent partnerships with Google and the official announcement of their 4G WiMax plans Sprint does appear to be turning the ship around. But the $64,000 question remains, is this all too late?

source: Sprint