Following Sprint’s earnings call, the company wrapped up a pretty dark 2008 with more of the same – there’s really no way to sugarcoat this so we’ll just get right to it. Sprint lost $1.62 billion in Q4 for a total loss of $2.79 billion in 2008. Actually that’s not terrible, all things considered. As for subscriber figures, 1.3 million fled the carrier in Q4 rounding off Sprint’s total number of lost subscribers in 2008 at 4.5 million. The company carried 49.3 million subscribers into 2009 and seemed optimistic that the new year would bring a slowed bleed rate along with it. While 2009 is certainly looking a bit brighter for the company, it still appears entirely too reliant on a single device to turn things around. The Palm Pre is indeed one of the most highly anticipated handsets of 2009 but it certainly isn’t the messiah and it’s going to take a whole lot more than one sexy phone to make up for a 2008 that was $2.8 billion in the red. As strong as Sprint’s network is, where available, the company has the behind-the-scenes goods to make things happen. If it can pepper in a few more solid handsets and somehow get WiMAX back on track, we could definitely see things start to look up for Sprint as 2010 rolls around.
Sprint still bleeding badly, loses 1.3 million subscribers in Q4 2008
Updated Dec 19th, 2018 6:14PM EST
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Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 15 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.
His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.
