Sprint Nextel reported a loss in its second-quarter earnings Thursday, but the wireless carrier hopes investors will pay more attention to a new deal for wireless 4G broadband.

Sprint added nearly 1.1 million new subscribers in the quarter, most of them prepaid subscribers. The company also posted its best-ever postpaid churn of 1.75 percent and the lowest prepaid churn in almost six years at 4.14 percent. But the rest of the news wasn't as good.

Second-quarter revenue was $8.3 billion, with operating income of $79 million. That's a net loss of $847 million and a diluted loss per share of 28 cents for the quarter. But the company has $4.3 billion in cash reserves.

Competing with Giants

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse focused on the positive: "Sprint's second-quarter results, including our 14th consecutive quarter of improved customer-care satisfaction, our best-ever postpaid churn, more than one million net wireless subscriber additions and wireless service revenue growth, validate that our focus on providing simplicity, value and an unmatched customer experience is working."

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Gartner, said Sprint's losses demonstrate how tough it is for smaller carriers to compete in today's market. As he sees it, Sprint remains challenged to go head-to-head with much larger competitors, which is one of the reasons it's so strongly opposing AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile.

"Sprint has to find ways to differentiate itself from the competition and give consumers a reason to use its services," Gartenberg said. "That means coming out with cool devices. That means focusing on price, which is part of what they are doing. When you are not the dominant player, it can be difficult."

LightSquared Revenue

Seeking to build on its strengths in hopes that service will drive a revenue rebound, Sprint also announced a 15-year deal with LightSquared, an integrated LTE 4G wireless broadband and satellite network. The agreement...

2011-07-29 03:27:41