Sprint loss widens as wireless postpaid ARPU declines

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) posted third quarter consolidated net operating revenues of $8.15 billion, up about 1 percent year-over-year, as net losses widened to $911 million from $478 million a year ago. Sprint added 644,000 net wireless customers in Q3 and now serves 48.8 million subscribers in all, including 33.1 million postpaid subscribers--postpaid churn in the quarter was 1.93 percent, compared to 2.17 percent a year ago and 1.85 percent in the second quarter of 2010. Sprint adds that almost 10 percent of postpaid customers upgraded their handsets during the third quarter, which the operator said indicates growing demand for 4G handsets and continued strength in contract renewals.

Sprint reported Q3 retail wireless service revenues of $6.4 billion, up almost 2 percent compared to the third quarter of 2009 but down by less than 1 percent quarter-over-quarter. Sprint said retail wireless service revenues declined sequentially as a result of reduced postpaid subscriber totals. Wireless postpaid ARPU slipped year-over-year from $56 to $55, while remaining flat sequentially--the carrier blamed the drop on lower overage, casual data and text revenues, offset by higher monthly recurring revenue resulting from fixed-rate bundle plans. Sprint did not break out wireless data revenues.

Earlier this week, Sprint announced plans to introduce a new browser-based mobile applications ecosystem promising developers the tools to create value-added services spanning across multiple operating systems and device form factors. Powered by mobile web solutions provider Openwave's Integra scripting engine technology, the Sprint Browser-VAS ecosystem touts applications that execute within the browser, within the Sprint 3G network or in the cloud, eschewing the familiar software download  model--Sprint will introduce a Browser-VAS apps storefront sometime in the first half of 2011, adding it will be "similar to what exists within the application space today."

For more on Sprint's Q3 results:
- read this release
- also check out this FierceWireless Q3 earnings page

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