14 DAY TRIAL // Sprint Nextel reported recently a fourth-quarter loss of US$1.62 billion, yet it seems to be better than a year before, when the company announced a US$29.3 billion loss, caused by the US$29 billion write-down of its Nextel purchase. At the same time, it also mentioned that its revenue during the quarter went down 14.4 percent to $8.4 billion, given the fact that 1.3 million subscribers decided to leave the carrier.
According to Sprint, it managed to register full-year 2008 revenues of $35.6 billion, also seeing a drop compared to 2007, when it rose to $40.2 billion. At the same time, the mobile phone operator registered a $2.8 billion net loss for last year.
At the end of 2008, the company had 49.3 million customers, while at the end of the previous year it had 53.8 million subscribers. Sprint also announced that it has 35.5 million customers on its CDMA network, while 12.4 million are on iDEN, and 1.4 million are Power Source users who make use of both networks.
“In tough economic times, we’re generating substantial cash and reducing costs to ensure we remain financially sound. We already have the cash on hand to be able to meet our debt service requirements at least through the end of 2010,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel CEO. “With this financial stability, we can build on the improvements we’ve made in customer care, strengthen our brand and maintain continued strong network performance in 2009.”
In the fourth quarter, the company had $304 million wireless capital expenditures, compared to $217 million it spent during the third quarter of last year, and $1.4 billion spent a year before. The wireless capital expenditures increased during the quarter due to timings of projects to increase network capacity and add EVDO capability in certain smaller markets. The reduced spending on a yearly basis shows that the capacity needs were smaller.
At the same time, the company announced a net debt lower by approximately $550 million compared to the end of the third quarter, to $17.9 billion at the end of the fourth quarter. The carrier managed to repay $1 billion of its revolving credit facility in November 2008.