Lost postpaid subscribers equate to major lost revenues for Sprint

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Related Companies Sprint Nextel Corporation (S)

Related Documents 10-Q Sprint Nextel Corporation 9/30/2009, filed on 11/6/2009

It is no secret that Sprint Nextel Corp.'s postpaid subscriber losses have taken a heavy toll on the company. But in a Form 10-Q filed Nov. 6, the wireless operator put a number on just how large an impact the losses have had.

Sprint reported net postpaid subscriber losses of 1.25 million in the first quarter, 991,000 in the second and 801,000 in the third. Though Sprint noted the sequential improvement in the second and third quarters and said it expects net postpaid subscriber losses will continue to improve during the fourth, the damage from the losses recorded during the first nine months will nevertheless be severe.

"The net loss of post-paid subscribers in the first nine months of 2009 can be expected to cause wireless service revenue in the last quarter of 2009 to be approximately $481 million lower and in 2010 to be approximately $1.9 billion lower than it would have been had those subscribers not been lost," the company said. "If we continue to experience a significant loss of post-paid subscribers in the fourth quarter 2009 and in 2010, it would have a significant negative impact on Sprint's financial condition, results of operations and liquidity in 2010 and beyond."