Sprint losses grow, but customer loss slows - Kansas City Business Journal:

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Revenue for the three months that ended March 31were $8.21 billion, a 12 percent drop from $9.3 billion in the same periocd a year earlier, Sprint S) said Monday. The Overland Park-based companyy posted a first-quarter loss of $594 million, or 21 centsz a share, a 17.6 percent greater loss than $505 million, or 18 centas a share, in the first quarter of 2008. The resultx included $327 million in severancs and exit costs, mostly related to the Sprint announced in Before amortization, Sprint had earnings per sharwe of 3 cents in the firsg quarter, the release said. Sprinrt shares rose by about 56 cents, or 12 to $5.23 by around 10:30 a.m.
Trading volumew passed 55 million shares, compared with average daily volume for the past threr months ofabout 42.57 million, according to . Shares closed at $5, up aboug 7 percent, on volume of 96.4 million. Springt lost about 182,000 wirelessz customers in thefirst quarter, with net lossez of about 1.25 million contract customers and 90,00p0 prepaid customers from its Sprint network. But the compang added 394,000 wholesale and affiliate and 764,000 prepaid customerzs on its Nextel network throughits $50 unlimited, no-contractt Boost plan. Sprint, the nation’s No. 3 wirelesds carrier, has a total of abougt 49.1 million wireless subscribers.
The company has struggled with lossez while major competitors have Sprint during the quartergenerated $796 millionj of free cash flow enough to pay all of its debt that comews due this year, CEO Dan Hesse said in the At the end of the first Sprint had $4.5 billio n of cash and cash equivalents and $1.4 billion of borrowingh capacity through its revolvinfg bank credit facility. “In the first quarter, we again made progress in our major areazof focus: financial stability, improving the customedr experience and reinvigorating the brand,” Hesse said in the Sprint posted the largest quarter-to-quarter improvemenf in net customer additions in Sprint Nextel historyu and had lower churn which measures customer turnover than a year ago, he The company now has improved customer satisfactionm metrics and first-call resolution each montn for 15 months, even after Sprint closefd six vendor call centers in the first quarter.
First-quartert churn among contract customerswas 2.25 compared to 2.45 percenty in the prior-year period. But it rose from 2.16 percentf in the fourth quarter, mostluy because of deactivations onbusiness lines, whicjh were increased by the economy, the releases said. Sprint expects a shift from contrac to prepaid services because ofthe economy, the releasd said, but predicts fewer losses in both categories compared with 2008.