Sprint posts a loss in first quarter of 2008
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 12, 2008 Comment on this |
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May 12, 2008 - Sprint today announced that they posted a loss of $253 million for the first quarter of 2008. Revenues were down 9% compared to the same quarter last year at $8 billion. Sprint blamed the losses on a lower average revenue per customer. Sprint also stated that they lost 800,000 customers compared to the same quarter last year.Sprint's loss comes amidst rumors that the carrier is seeking to spin-off the Nextel iDEN network. Sprint's merger with Nextel has not produces positive results for the company. Last quarter the company wrote-off the purchase of Nextel to the tune of $29.7 billion. Recent rumors have also indicated that T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom might be interested in purchasing Sprint to better compete with the subscriber base of industry leaders AT&T and Verizon.
Analysts lay much of the blame for Sprint's latest woes at the feet of the iPhone (review), speculating that the loss of many high value subscribers have come to AT&T as a result of the iPhone launch. Sprint will be launching the Samsung Instinct (article), a device meant to compete with the iPhone for high-end subscribers, at the end of this quarter.
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