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Bad times for Sprint – $326 million, 1.3 million subscribers lost

By: , IntoMobile
Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 6:46 PM

Subscriber growth and financial performance go hand in hand for wireless carriers. Regardless of ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) rates or data traffic, a carrier’s subscriber counts and, more importantly, it’s subscriber growth are the yard-sticks with which to gauge the company’s fiscal performance. So, it’s no wonder that wireless carriers with huge net subscriber losses tend to post dismal financial earnings.

Such is the case with Sprint. Continuing on a bad year rife with subscriber defections and profit losses, Sprint has again announced another losing quarter. This time around, Sprint has posted a net loss of $326 million in Q3 2008, riding on the back of a net subscriber loss of a whopping 1.3 million customers. Compared to a net profit of $63 million in the year-ago quarter, Sprint’s financial misfortunes are mounting.

Sprint saw its Q3 2008 turnover rate hit 2.15%, which is an improvement from the 2.3% it saw in Q3 2007. Interestingly, Sprint saw 1.3 million more subscribers leaving their network than were signing on as new customers while rivals AT&T and Verizon added millions of new subscribers.

The company said that it expects subscriber defections to stabilize in the fourth quarter, but CEO Dan Hesse points out that turning Sprint’s business around will take some time.

In time, Sprint’s WiMAX-based XOHM network may help bring Sprint’s bottom line back into profitable territory.

[Via: CNNMoney]

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About The Author

Will Park

Will hails from The City of Angels - Los Angeles, California. He spends his time playing with his numerous gadgets and looking forward to seeing what future holds for mobile technology. An avid promoter of a fully "digital" life, he promotes the widespread adoption of truly mobile, paper-less living. He dreams of the day when he can go completely digital. No more snail mail, paper receipts, bound books, notepads/spiral notebooks, credit cards, hard currency. He's a digital warrior - fighting for the converged life. He is an idealist and a realist - he has a perfect view of what the world should be but knows that the world is not perfect. Can we ever hope to see Will's dream become reality? We'll see...

  • Russ

    It's very simple. Both Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA keep winning awards. Why? One of the biggest reasons is their AMERICAN-STAFFED Customer Care. Sprint on the other hand Outsources their Customer Care to India, the Philippines, and what American staff they do use; comes from T.A.G. This has caused giant amounts of problems. Even AT&T has changed their Customer Care issues. Sprint makes their customers feel like they are worthless, by hiring the worst possible Customer Care possible! So what makes a customer feel better? When they have a problem and call CC, sit on hold for an hour; just to speak with someone that can barely speak English and has ZERO understanding of the product or service? Or when someone calls CC, sits on hold for less then a minute; then speaks to an American Rep that uses the very same service as the caller? Ummm, let me guess… Sprint, FIRE YOUR OUTSOURCED CUSTOMER CARE STAFF! You will keep losing customers until you spend your customers money on American staff that know about Sprint.