Sprint report net loss of $863 million in Q1 2012, adds 1.1 million subscribers (USA)
Sprint Nextel Corp. announced its Q1 2012 results wherein it reported a net loss of $863 million and a diluted net loss of $.29 per share for the first quarter of 2012. The company had wireless service revenues of $7.2 billion during the quarter, an increase of more than 7 percent year-over-year, driven primarily by Sprint platform postpaid ARPU growth of $4.03 – the largest year-over-year increase on record for the U.S. wireless industry. The company reported total net subscriber additions of nearly 1.1 million during the first quarter, bringing total ending subscribers to a record 56 million.
The total number of customers on the Sprint platform grew almost 4 percent sequentially including 263,000 postpaid net subscriber additions, 870,000 prepaid net subscriber additions and 785,000 wholesale and affiliate net subscriber additions. Sprint recorded more than 1.5 million iPhone sales in the first quarter with 44 percent going to new customers. Prepaid churn on the Sprint platform improved to 2.92 percent, the tenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement.
According to Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO, the continuing revenue growth on the Sprint platform, which represents the future of the company, driven by record ARPU improvement and strong net subscriber growth, contributed to the Adjusted OIBDA performance of $1.2 billion. He added that the value and simplicity of their unlimited data, talk and text plans, combined with an unsurpassed customer experience and their increasingly robust device portfolio make for a strong combination.
In terms of customer experience, during the first quarter, Sprint recorded its lowest level of calls to customer care per postpaid subscriber on record, consistent with more third-party recognition of Sprint’s customer experience.
Sprint also launched several innovative products and services in addition to its 4G LTE devices. Sprint introduced its first tablet for under $100 with a two year agreement, ZTE Optik as well as ZTE Fury, a family-friendly Android-powered device. Boost Mobile began offering LG Rumor Reflex – the fifth device from Sprint with eco-friendly attributes and the second from Boost. Additionally, the company introduced Sprint Complete Collaboration, the most comprehensive hosted and fully managed unified communications bundle available for businesses and launched additional Sprint Biz 360 solutions, phone and applications for small businesses. Sprint also created New Ventures, a new organization focused on delivering new business models that leverage open platforms to drive revenue and overall customer satisfaction for the global marketplace.
Italian Fastweb deepens net loss to EUR72m in 2010
The board of directors of Italian broadband services provider Fastweb approved the draft balance for 2010 on February 17, reporting a net loss of EUR72.4m (USD98.3m), compared with a net loss of EUR34.4m, booked for 2009.
Consolidated revenue totaled EUR1.88bn, up 1.5% on the year.
The group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) came in at EUR502.6m, accounting for 26.7% of revenues and rising 4.5% annually.
Fastweb posted a consolidated operating profit of EUR62.3m.
The net financial debt at the end of the year stood at EUR1.602bn, versus a debt of EUR1.443bn registered at end-2009.
Net investment totaled EUR426.9m, related mostly to connection of new subscribers.
Telkom Kenya shifts focus for 2010 following net loss
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: In an attempt to recover, following a net loss of KES10 billion (USD124.6 million) in 2009, Telkom Kenya has announced that it will shift its strategic focus in 2010. Revenue of KES11 billion was generated by the company but due to higher levels of competition it turned to net loss.
The profit level of the industry also plunged when the operators dropped their prices to gain market share.
According to Telkom Kenya CEO, Mickael Ghossein, the company had encountered severe conditions in the last trading year that had affected its ability to generate profits and so the company has turned its focus on providing quality services, innovating and providing value for money.
The company has also planned to move the market towards true broadband connectivity, offering speeds of up to 8Mbps.
Deutsche Telekom Q4 revenue rises 0.6%
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 0.6 percent increase in the Q4 revenue has been reported by Deutsche Telekom reaching EUR 16.20 billion. The rise has been attributed to the takeover of OTE which helped offset a slide in revenues in its home market Germany.
However, revenues in Germany were down 3.1 percent to EUR 6.40 billion. Due to negative currency effects and competitive pressures US sales declined 15.7 percent to EUR 3.66 billion and the weak results in the UK and Poland led to the revenues from Europe fall 11.5 percent to EUR 2.47 billion.
Group EBITDA improved 8.6 percent to EUR 5.07 billion and the lower impairment charges narrowed the net loss to EUR 3 million from EUR 730 million. According to DT, its save for Service cost-cutting programme has generated savings of EUR 5.9 billion, and will contribute another EUR 4.2 billion in cost reductions by 2012.
Jamaican telco LIME posts quarterly net loss of USD3.94 million
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With an increase of 70% in financing, depreciation and amortization cost, a net loss of JMD351 million (USD3.94 million) has been posted by Jamaican telco LIME for the three months ended December 31 2009. On the contrary, the company reported a net profit of JMD33 million in the same quarter in 2008.
JMD1.3 billion was the depreciation and amortization charges for the quarter while it was million for the comparative period in 2008.
Lime has cited recession and anti-competitive practices behind the negative results. According to the company, despite the challenging economic climate, the company continued to grow internet and data revenues and maintained market share on mobile
Sprint suffers a net loss of USD2.44 billion in 2009
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: A net loss of USD2.44 billion for the twelve months ended December 31, 2009 has been posted by Sprint Nextel, which is a 13% year-on-year improvement. A net loss of USD2.79 billion has also been suffered by the company and the revenues continued to fall, down 9% from USD35.64 billion in 2008 to USD32.26 billion a year later.
Operating income before interest, depreciation and amortization went down from USD7.66 billion to USD6.41 billion. The company also lost a total of 1.13 million wireless subscribers in 2009.
According to CEO Dan Hesse, Sprint’s performance built notable momentum during the second half of 2009 and the firm continues to closely manage costs, and in 2009 it generated the highest annual free cash flow since the merger.
The fourth quarter completion of the Virgin Mobile USA and iPCS acquisitions, as well as additional large investment in Clearwire, are hailed important for the future of the company.
