The first Fall CTIA show I went to, I asked reps from basically all of the handset companies what the deal was with Sprint. I was young and naive reporter, they were young and seasoned PR people, and so they said, "You'll have to speak directly to a Sprint rep about that. We can tell you about our handsets, though!"
My question stemmed from the fact that during my first year on the job with PhoneDog, I'd gotten the impression that Sprint was all about trying to sell customers innovative products and services at reasonable prices, and my testing showed that they had a pretty decent voice and data network with which to back it all up (at least in my neck of the woods and at a few major American airports). I soon learned - from readers, fellow journos, and various Man on the Street types - that Sprint had a serious customer service problem, a serious image/reputation problem, and that not all parts of our vast country were blessed with the same network coverage that I'm afforded here in high-tech land (aka the SF Bay Area).
Now, a few years later, Sprint has sunk much time and moolah into trying to fix those customer service and reputation problems. They still offer innovative products at great prices. And their network still rocks when I test it here in the Bay Area. And yet ...
Sprint's Q209 results were reported today and the network lost some 991,000 postpaid (i.e. "on contract") subscribers during the quarter, despite their exclusive launch of the Palm Pre smartphone. Net subscriber loss was limited to just over a quarter-million subs, thanks to the companies pre-paid offerings including Boost Mobile. Net loss was down 12 percent versus the same time period last year, but Sprint still lost $384 million on operating revenue of $8.1 billion - just shy of Wall Street's projections.
What's a carrier to do? Palm Pre, BlackBerry Tour, all of HTC's latest smartphones, and the best prices around for all-in voice and data plans ... and it still can't add up to customer retention, let alone profitability? At least Boost is doing well, right? Guess that explains yesterday's news that Sprint snapped up Virgin Mobile and their pre-paid operations.
You got Sprint? You got thoughts on the matter? What's the deal, and what can Sprint do to turn it around?
