In announcing its fourth quarter financial results, Sprint says it sold 1.8 million iPhones. By comparison, AT&T sold 7.6 million and Verizon moved 4.3 million.
Spring also announced an US$1.3 billion net loss and an increase in its operating revenues by the largest amount in five years to $8.72 billion. With net subscribers hitting 55 million (33 million postpaid, 14.8 million prepaid and 7.2 million from wholesale), the company added an extra 1.6 million subscribers in its first quarter, helped by strong iPhone sales.
“Our strong fourth quarter performance illustrates the power of matching iconic devices like the iPhone with our simple, unlimited plans and industry-leading customer experience,” says Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. “During the past year, Sprint added more than five million net new customers and grew wireless service revenue by more than 5%, including 17% for the Sprint platform. This momentum gives us confidence as we execute our Network Vision upgrade and 4G LTE roll-out.”
Total postpaid net additions of 161,000 for the fourth quarter represent the tenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement and were driven by continued strength of the Sprint platform, which had net postpaid additions of 539,000, he adds. This is the seventh consecutive quarter of net postpaid subscriber growth on the Sprint platform.