Sprint posts Q2 loss of $1.6B as 2M subscribers drop off

From CNET News.com: Well, it's only supposed to get better from here. That's the attitude Sprint is likely taking after posting a net loss of $1.6 billion and net subscriber losses of 2 million. While the numbers look bad, there remains reason to be optimistic.

Sprint was officially acquired by Japanese carrier SoftBank earlier this month, a deal expected to bring capital and expertise to the company. The quarter represented the last one in which Sprint was operating two separate networks, its core Sprint network and a different, incompatible Nextel network. The Nextel service was shut down at the end of last month, eliminating what had been a distraction, financial burden, and primary source of customer defections.

The company reported on late Monday a loss of $1.6 billion, or 53 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $1.37 billion, or 46 cents a share. Results were affected by the Nextel shutdown, which included $430 million in the write-off of Nextel assets, as well as non-cash charges of $623 million. On a per-share basis, the Nextel shutdown cost Sprint 36 cents.

Revenue inched up slightly to $8.88 billion, driven by record Sprint service revenue of $7.2 billion.

Analysts, on average, forecast a per-share loss of 30 cents and revenue of $8.73 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

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