Sprint makes $1.2 bn investment in telecom networks in Sept quarter

Sprint telecom network
Sprint Corporation, a subsidiary of SoftBank of Japan, today said it made an investment of $1,162 million in telecom networks during the second fiscal quarter of 2015.

The American wireless operator has retained its Capex guidance of $5 billion for the full financial year.

Sprint plans to cut at least $2 billion in operating expenses in fiscal 2016. The company did not share specific details on any possible job reduction.

Sprint expects the proposed handset leasing company and other upcoming financing structures will sufficiently meet the company’s cash needs.

During the second quarter, Sprint deployed two-channel (2×20 MHz) carrier aggregation in the 2.5 GHz band, which produces more capacity and higher data speeds, in 80 markets. Sprint currently has twelve devices that are 2×20 capable, including the recently introduced Apple iPhone 6s and Samsung Galaxy S6 models.

The company will continue to densify the network in order to improve performance.

Sprint added 1.1 million users in Q2 against 590,000 in the prior year quarter.

“As seen in our quarterly results, American consumers are happy to switch to Sprint because they appreciate great products and great service at a great price,” said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.

The wireless service provider has added 553,000 postpaid users in Q2 fiscal 2015 against 272,000 lost in the same quarter previous year. Out of this, 199,000 prepaid customers migrated to postpaid. 175,000 of these migrations now included as postpaid customers under their Boost and Virgin brands.

Sprint added 237,000 postpaid phone users compared to 500,000 it lost in the prior year quarter.

The telecom network operator in a statement said that its operating revenues fell 6 percent to $8 billion, as customer shifts to rate plans associated with device financing options and postpaid phone customer losses from prior periods drove lower wireless service revenues.

While Operating loss was $2 million ($192 million in year-ago quarter), net loss was $585 million (net loss of $765 million).

Baburajan K
[email protected]