Yesterday, Sprint announced their first quarter earnings, and though the numbers were slightly down, they represented an improvement over past quarters. At the end of the quarter, Sprint had 48.1 million customers (33.4 million of which are postpaid) and operating revenues closed at $8.1 billion, an $865 million loss.
Postpaid churn was at 2.15 percent, due in part to the deactivations of former Helio customers (2.12 percent without). The number represented a drop from 2.25 percent in Q1 2009. All in all, the company lost 75,000 net wireless customers (including losses of 578,000 postpaid customers), and wireless postpaid ARPU (average revenue per user) was at $55, a year-over-year drop from $56.
"Sprint's first quarter results, including increased net operating revenues and significant year-over-year net post-paid subscriber improvements show we continue to make progress in improving the business," said Sprint CEO Dan Hesse.
Despite the fact that the numbers are somewhat lower than the competition's, I have to give Sprint credit. People are quick to peg Sprint's earnings as "dismal," "average," and "the usual expectation," but they're trimming their losses, working to improve customer service, and have at least one hot new device coming in the next quarter (EVO 4G, in case you were wondering). Given the improvements they've made over the past year on several fronts, I could see them gaining customers by the fourth quarter of this year. Now it's time to hear from you - sound off with your thoughts on Sprint's quarterly earnings!
Additional Q1 2010 Reporting (as it is available):
