Sprint reported Q4 revenue of $9 billion and full year 2012 consolidated net operating revenue of $35.3 billion. There was a net loss of $1.3 billion and a diluted net loss of $.44 per share for the fourth quarter of 2012 as compared to a net loss of $1.3 billion and a diluted net loss of $.43 per share in the fourth quarter of 2011.
“Sprint’s strong performance was fueled by record wireless service revenue on the Sprint platform due to year-over-year postpaid ARPU growth and Sprint platform net additions,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint CEO. “As a result, quarterly Adjusted OIBDA* performance improved year-over-year in spite of significant cost increases related to Network Vision and the iPhone, both of which are key investments for our business that we expect will improve the customer experience and lead to growth in the years ahead.”
Some highlights:
- Wireless service revenues for the Sprint platform grew 12 percent year-over-year for the quarter and nearly 15 percent for the full year thanks to increasing postpaid ARPU and subscriber growth.
- Postpaid subscriber net add in Q4 totaled 401,000 driven by a postpaid Nextel recapture rate of 51 percent, or 333,000 subscribers, and strong 4G LTE smartphone sales. Sprint platform prepaid net additions equaled 525,000 due in part to the best ever quarterly prepaid Nextel recapture rate of 50 percent, or 188,000 subscribers.
- Sprint sold approximately 2.2 million iPhones in the fourth quarter with 38 percent purchased by new customers. As of the end of the fourth quarter, Sprint had sold more than 4 million 4G LTE smartphones. For all of 2012, Sprint sold 6.6 million iPhones.
- In Q4, over 6.1 million smartphones were sold.
- Network Vision is on track: the number of sites that are either ready for construction or already underway has grown to more than 19,500 – approximately half the total number of sites to be upgraded. To date more than 8,000 sites are on air and meeting speed and coverage enhancement targets. Recent weekly construction starts are up 56 percent from the third quarter. Sprint continues to expect to have 12,000 sites on air by the end of the first quarter of 2013.
- Network Vision leasing is complete at over 27,000 sites and zoning is complete at nearly 29,000 sites.
- Sprint is on track to shut down the Nextel network by the end of Q2.
- Sprint has now launched 4G LTE in 58 cities and expects the service will be available in nearly 170 additional cities in the coming months.
- Activation of 800 MHz spectrum for CDMA voice is underway.
