Sprint this morning reported its results for the first quarter of 2008 and has revealed continued severe losses in its cellular business. The carrier says its net revenue declined nine percent year-over-year to $9.3 billion and that it lost a total 1.09 million wireless customers in the most recent period. The company says the poor results were "expected" but that it's continuing to rework its strategy, including more focused advertising, cost reductions, and larger strategic decisions. Its news last week of a team-up with Clearwire for nationwide WiMAX also points to a turnaround, according to the company. The company's total 52.8 million customers keep it in third place among US wireless carriers. AT&T and Verizon have extended their leads with significant gains in the most recent quarter and support 71 and 67 million cellphone users respectively. T-Mobile is in fourth place at 30 million customers.
The average income per user also dropped slightly to $56 and is attributed to an increasing shift by customers from calling to data use.
Sprint's struggles in recent history have been widely credited to poor customer support, though the company itself has taken steps to attract customers. The carrier was the first US provider to offer an unlimited plan with Simply Everything and has taken to developing a custom interface for its upcoming Samsung Instinct phone, which it hopes will lure customers away from the iPhone.
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