iPhone effect not strong enough for Sprint in Q4 2011: loss deepens, subscriber growth fails expectations
After Sprint reported a controversial third quarter in anticipation of the iPhone, in the last quarter of 2011 the third-largest carrier finally felt the iPhone effect as users arrived on the carrier, but the number wasn’t as much as analysts projected and on the flipside of things, losses widened as the pricey deal with Apple could be felt.
Sprint added 161,000 total net subscribers in the Holiday quarter, but still failed to match analysts’ projections about 272,000 added subscribers.
Sprint sold 1.8 million iPhones in the last trimester of 2011, and 40% of those were new subscribers arriving on the Now Network.
At the same time, the carrier reported a total loss of $1.3 billion, wider than last year’s $929 million. The company’s revenue stood at $8.72 billion.
Interestingly, the company sees its future very dependant on 4G LTE adoption, and expects to start growing as the first LTE markets light up and customers hop on the fast new network. Sprint said its home city of Kansas along with Baltimore will be among the first to get an LTE network by mid-2012.
source: Sprint
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