Sprint releases Q2 earnings report
Oh Sprint. We don’t envy you come quarterly report time. You’re frequently faced with the unpleasant task of making lemonade out of lemons, spinning your undoubtedly dismal sales, retention, and churn numbers into something that won’t make your investor run for the hills. Poor guys. The company has just released its Q2 report from this year, and it’s filled with the typical collection of niceties and truth-obscuring statements. Of particular note:
- Subscriber base increases by nearly 400,000, to 54 million; lower churn contributes to positive post-paid net additions
- Total revenues of $8.8 billion, an increase of 3% year-over-year and 1% sequentially; data revenues increased 40% compared to the year-ago period
- Adjusted Operating Income* of $494 million, a decline compared to the second quarter of 2006 but a strong improvement from the first quarter
We suppose things could be worse, but given AT&T’s increasing dominance in the GSM arena, coupled with Verizon’s CDMA stronghold, we think Sprint might want to accelerate their WiMax rollout plans before things get much worse.
Note from the editor-in-chief (that’s right, bitches!): I think Josh is a little misguided here, because even though Sprint sucks harder than…well, you get the point, they still have 54M subscribers. Not something we can totally dismiss as much as we dislike them…
Why would you dislike Sprint? They have awesome plans, some half-cool phones, and aren’t as restrictive as Verizon. What would be a good reason to dislike them?
Horrible customer service…..
I agree horrible customer service…..
I agree their service sucks, but honestly the only time I ever call customer service is to change plans or activate phones, which I typically do through the store anyways.
editor in chief, lol
yeah 54 million is very good, i didnt know they had that many.
Editor-in-cheif, are you one of those thousand or so people who was fired by sprint as a customer?
As much as you dislike them? They have terrific data coverage and have the best rates for data plans of anyone.
I did not, however, know that they had 54M subscribers. ATT only has 62 I don’t see how they’re that far behind.
Yeah, I don’t get the Sprint bashing either. I’m not saying their customer service is great but if you look just a little deeper, you’ll find that all the carriers have horror stories about their service. I know plenty of people on AT&T, Verizon and, to a lesser extent, T-Mo that b!tch about the customer service (especially AT&T). Are there more stories about Sprint? Maybe, but like LDCMobile I don’t call them very often. The coverage really is pretty good and no other carrier can even come close to matching my plan on Sprint (500min, 7pm n/w, unlimited data+text+roaming for $30/mon).
they DO suck U used to be a sprint customer
OVERBILLING an sucky customer service are the least of everybodys nightmares. I can say this from experience
Mr. Editor is pretty on point here…I may have gone a little overboard, but I’m a bit jaded by a recent Sprint Customer Service run-in from hell…they may have 54 million strong, but their billing system is about as accurate as blind dude with a dart gun. Dangerous.
I would consider Sprint or T-mo if they had 3g in my area… but sprint/nextel is terrible here and T-mo is an afterthought as well.
yeah over billing an screwed up blling systems suxors ive been there josh I still have my sanyospc8100 from when it first came out lol
Personally, I’ll take Sprint’s customer service any day over AT&T. Our Sprint account rep is far more reliable and responsive than our AT&T reps (that’s right, one guy is easier to get ahold of than three).
I have never had a billing problem with Sprint and that goes back almost 9 years. I can understand that things to happen…but it happens on all carriers. You still have to pick the best carrier for where you live where you go and who you talk to the most. I too have many friends that have complained to the top of their lungs about every single cell service provider. Customer service is always going to be a moving target. Lets move the conversation to the features, functions, network and phones that we want to use.
What phone is that in the picture? It looks kinda cool!
Sprint’s downsides (fairly bad customer service and apparent widespread billing issues) are more than cancelled out by their great data coverage, competitive rates, and interesting/decent handset selection.
I have a 6700 and my brother has a Mogul and we pay far less for better service than our friends with Verizon. It all depends on the area, of course, but in my experience, Sprint is the best bang for the buck.
I’m pretty sure that phone is Samsung IP-830w, a GSM/CDMA hybrid device for the business crowd. I’ve heard that it sucks, but your mileage may vary.
Samsung smart phone.
Wow E-I-C nice job. I thought Sprint sucked that bad and were dying as we type on our little keyboards.
I cancelled my account because customer service pissed me off when my 6700 broke. . . I wanna crawl back tho. . . Just need a way out of my new contract. . . Any ideas? Anybody?
I know they have issues with customer service but I never call them to be honest. Once I have a plan I stay with it until its over. I think alot of people run into problems when they start jumping from plan to plan, trying to get credits for something they may or may not deserve, or just trying to do things that are out of the ordinary. I really think I am a Sprint fanboy, but if you look at the other carriers and the prices they have you will see why putting up with Sprint is well worth it. Honestly, go to some websites and try to pick a plan, its a horrible experience.
What are you crazy. I’ve had sprint for 4 months. Wish I could go back to T-Mobile. My bill has been wrong every month and I don’t mean off by $20 or so. I was over charged $130 last month over. And when you call in to get help with it they act like you did something wrong. Custumer service had the nerve to say “Well what do you want me to do” And who the hell said they have great handsets? They get everthing last. They just got the NEW 8830 a phone that AT&T released “8800″ 6 months ago. And who the hell said great plans. At T-Mobile I payed $19.99 for unlimited blackberry plan. For that same plan with Sprint its $39.99. I had 1,500 min plus free nights and weekends at T-Mobile for 49.99. I now pay $59.99 for 900 min. How is this great. Bottom line is when my contract is up if custumer service and there billing issues have not changed I will be saying “Do you hear me now”
I just wish Sprint would change to FEDX because UPS has rude customer service.
I use to work for Accent Marketing who is an outsourcer for Sprint in Eustis Florida, I assure you, the service does suck but its because management is not qualified empty the trash.