Sprint Nextel Reports First Quarter 2009 Results

[JFB]

Sprint Nextel Corporation - Investor Relations - News Release

Excerpt from the wireless section:

Wireless Customers The company served 49.1 million customers at the end of the quarter, compared to 49.3 million at the end of 2008. This includes 35.4 million post-paid subscribers (25.3 million on CDMA, 8.9 million on iDEN, and 1.2 million Power Source users who utilize both networks), 4.3 million prepaid subscribers (3.5 million on iDEN and 800,000 on CDMA) and 9.4 million wholesale and affiliate subscribers, all of whom utilize our CDMA network. For the quarter, total wireless customers declined by approximately 182,000, including net losses of 1.25 million post-paid customers – comprising 531,000 CDMA and 719,000 iDEN customers (including a net 94,000 customers who transferred from the iDEN network to the CDMA network). The company also lost 90,000 prepaid CDMA customers. The company gained a net 764,000 prepaid iDEN customers and 394,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers. The company achieved total subscriber growth on the iDEN network. The sequential decline in total subscribers improved by more than 1 million. Subscriber growth in wholesale was primarily driven by the increasing market opportunity for open network devices, such as the Amazon Kindle 2, that extend broadband wireless connectivity to a variety of electronic applications. The credit quality of our post-paid customer base remained at approximately 84% prime, compared to 81% a year ago. About 8.6% of post-paid customers upgraded their handsets during the first quarter, resulting in increased contract renewals. In the first quarter, the company added to its device and service capabilities with the launch of the Treo™ Pro, LG Rumor2™, the next generation of LG Rumor, and the Sierra Wireless 598U, providing customers a dependable connection on Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network. Additionally, the company launched the Motorola® Stature™ i9 - the newest Nextel Direct Connect-capable device available to both prepaid and post-paid customers. In addition to the planned launch of the Palm® Pre™ in the first half of 2009, Sprint in April launched the Samsung Instinct® s30™, the AirCard® 402 by Sierra Wireless and the Sanyo SCP-2700. The company plans to launch a total of seven new Nextel Direct Connect handsets as part of its new device portfolio in 2009, with most launching during the first half of the year.

More data in the full press release.

[Yankees368]

Not too shabby!

[larry]

Yeah they are turning the tide now and I knew it would just be a matter of time before they would. There's really no reason for people to keep leaving considering Sprint offers a great product for the money. In time more and more people are going to finally realize that.

[Matt]

Originally Posted by larry Yeah they are turning the tide now and I knew it would just be a matter of time before they would. There's really no reason for people to keep leaving considering Sprint offers a great product for the money. In time more and more people are going to finally realize that.

While they did have a successful prepaid quarter, I would disagree that they are turning the tide. According to a chart in the Wall Street Journal, their postpaid contract losses were the highest in at least the last 5 quarters (across all of their offerings, both Sprint and Nextel).

[Yankees368]

Originally Posted by Matt While they did have a successful prepaid quarter, I would disagree that they are turning the tide. According to a chart in the Wall Street Journal, their postpaid contract losses were the highest in at least the last 5 quarters (across all of their offerings, both Sprint and Nextel).

Agreed. The only thing saving the company in 1Q was boost, and those people could all leave tomorrow. These numbers also include things like amazon kindle, as well. These numbers may be very deceiving.

[Kalimotxo]

I'm not too sure what to make of these numbers.

Boost has helped slow the bleeding... but will it heal the wound?

Hang in there Sprint. You are by far my favorite carrier.

[Kalimotxo]

Originally Posted by larry Yeah they are turning the tide now and I knew it would just be a matter of time before they would. There's really no reason for people to keep leaving considering Sprint offers a great product for the money. In time more and more people are going to finally realize that.

While I'm with you Larry... I have to disagree on one thing. There is one great reason to leave Sprint: iDen.

[AnthroMatt]

Originally Posted by Matt While they did have a successful prepaid quarter, I would disagree that they are turning the tide. According to a chart in the Wall Street Journal, their postpaid contract losses were the highest in at least the last 5 quarters (across all of their offerings, both Sprint and Nextel).

I agree. I didn't look at these numbers and think the news was good. Through all the losses over the past 1 year+, Sprint had been adding CDMA postpaid users while shedding iDEN users. Now they have lost CDMA and iDEN postpaid users in the same quarter, and if not for Boost's "gimmicky" plan, their numbers would have been much worse.

I am glad the Boost thing has been such a success, but I am worried when a company has to pin their good news on their prepaid subscriber base.

[AnthroMatt]

Originally Posted by Yankees368 These numbers also include things like amazon kindle, as well. These numbers may be very deceiving.

What, you mean you don't enjoy calling all your friends on their Kindles and using your M2M minutes??

[Yankees368]

Originally Posted by AnthroMatt What, you mean you don't enjoy calling all your friends on their Kindles and using your M2M minutes??

lol, exactly. There is no way a kindle user can earn sprint some extra $, by downloading useless ringtones or whatever.