Sprint reported a widening Q3 net loss and almost half a million subscriber losses today, but the results were slightly better than expected and the firm guided for an improving outlook.

The US number-three – which has recently agreed to sell a majority stake to Japan’s Softbank – posted a US$767 million (US$0.26 per share) net loss for the quarter, over twice the US$301 million (US$0.10 per share) loss reported a year ago. However, according to Thomson Reuters, the loss was narrower than the US$0.42 per share loss expected by Wall Street.

Net operating revenue rose 5 percent to US$8.76 billion, just shy of the US$8.8 billion expected by analysts.

Net subscriber losses totaled 423,000, though this was largely due to a 1.3 million net reduction in customers on the operator’s Nextel platform, which it is winding down. It added 883,000 subscribers on the Sprint platform, including 410,000 net postpaid customers.

The company served nearly 56 million customers in total at the end of the period: 32.1 million postpaid (29.8 million Sprint, 2.3 million Nextel), 15.4 million prepaid (14.6 million Sprint, 800,000 Nextel) and 8.4 million wholesale and affiliate subscribers,

Sprint sold 1.5 million iPhones sales in the third quarter with 40 percent going to new customers. It also surpassed 1 million LTE smartphones sold “prior to the launch of iPhone 5.”

“The Sprint platform performed well, with strong net subscriber additions, record third quarter postpaid and prepaid churn and robust revenue growth… even as we continue to invest in Network Vision and position the company for future growth,” said CEO Dan Hesse.

Hesse informed investors that Sprint’s 2012 adjusted OIBDA will “slightly exceed” the high end of its US$4.5 billion to US$4.6 billion target range.

As part of Network Vision, Sprint has launched 4G LTE in 32 cities and expects that 4G LTE will be available in more than 115 additional cities in the coming months.