US operator Sprint Nextel reported its sixteenth consecutive quarter of net losses today, but the Q3 loss was narrower than expected as the firm showed signs it was reining in costs and reducing subscriber losses.

The net loss for the quarter narrowed to US$301 million (US$0.10 per share) from US$911 million (US$0.30) a year earlier. The result was better than the US$0.22 per share loss predicted by analysts in a Bloomberg poll. Sales were up 2.2 percent to US$8.33 billion, just below the US$8.38 billion predicted by analysts. Adjusted OIBDA was US$1.4 billion for the quarter, up from the US$1.3 billion posted a year ago and in the previous quarter.

Sprint hailed its “best total company wireless net subscriber additions in more than five years,” adding 1.3 million net new subscribers to reach 53 million in total.  However, it still lost 44,000 subscribers (net) in the key postpaid segment, though this was a big improvement on the net losses of 107,000 a year ago.

The Q3 subscriber numbers do not include the impact of the iPhone, which the operator began offering for the first time on 14 October. Sprint said that “the launch of this iconic device resulted in Sprint’s best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history.”

It added that “the iPhone is expected to be accretive for Sprint, and iPhone users are expected to be among Sprint’s most profitable customers.” However, investors have voiced concerns about the costs involved in Sprint subsidising the device – and the firm has yet to give an indication on what impact this could have.

Wireless retail service revenues of US$6.8 billion for the quarter represented an increase of more than 7 percent compared to Q3 2010 and almost 2 percent compared to Q2 2011. Sprint attributed the improvement to “higher postpaid ARPU as well as an increased number of net prepaid subscribers as a result of the Boost Monthly Unlimited offering, additional market launches of Assurance Wireless and the re-launch of the Virgin Mobile brand.”
 
Postpaid ARPU increased from US$55 to US$58, which Sprint said was “the largest year-over-year postpaid ARPU growth in almost 12 years.” Prepaid ARPU dipped slightly to US$27 from US28.