US mobile network Sprint narrows losses on higher revenue and more customers
US mobile network challenger Sprint has narrowed its losses in its latest quarter thanks to higher revenue from more customers.
Sprint is targeting rapid growth by offering its service at a heavy discount to its rivals and managed to pull in almost 350,000 contract customers for its fifth consecutive positive growth quarter after years of losses.
“The top line is now growing, we continue to take costs out of the business, and we are successfully raising money at materially lower rates,” chief executive Claure said in a statement, adding the company took “another step forward in our plan toward sustainable profitability.”
Read more: AT&T and Time Warner sceptics dial back shares
Sprint posted a loss of $142m (£116m), or $0.40 per share, under analysts’ expectations of a $0.80 per share loss. Revenue also beat analyst expectations at $8.25bn against projections of $7.96bn. It raised full-year guidance to between $1.2bn and $1.7bn.
Sprint, which is 80 per cent owned by Tokyo-based SoftBank, is challenging rival T-Mobile to become the third-largest US network by subscribers.
T-Mobile currently controls around 16 per cent of the market, compared to Sprint's 14 per cent.
Read more: Subscriber slump sends Verizon's share price south
Verizon and AT&T both have more than 30 per cent of US customers.