Sprint lost a total of 135,000 net retail subscribers in the quarter.
Consolidated net operating revenues of $8.0 billion for the quarter were 9% lower than in the third quarter of 2008 and 1% lower than the second quarter of 2009. The company had 48.3 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2009, compared to 48.8 million at the end of the second quarter of 2009.
For the quarter, net retail subscribers declined by a total of 135,000 and net wireless customers declined by approximately 545,000, including net losses of 801,000 post-paid customers – comprising 271,000 CDMA and 530,000 iDEN customers (including a net 64,000 customers who transferred from the iDEN network to the CDMA network). The company gained a net 801,000 prepaid iDEN customers, offset by net losses of 135,000 prepaid CDMA customers. The company also experienced a net loss of 410,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers.
Post-paid churn in the quarter was 2.17% compared to 2.15% in the year-ago period and 2.05% in the second quarter of 2009. Sprint blamed the sequential increase on “seasonality and heightened competition.”
Wireless service revenues for the quarter of $6.3 billion declined 8% year-over-year and 2% sequentially.
Read more in Sprint’s earnings press release here.