Sprint Nextel made a net loss of $1.6 billion for the second quarter, swollen by the cost of shutting down its Nextel wireless network, but the company is more optimistic about future profitability.
The net loss was 16 percent higher than the $1.37 billion reported a year earlier, and included a $430 million charge for accelerated depreciation of Nextel network assets, and $623 million of other charges related to the network shutdown. Revenue totalled $8.88 billion, almost unchanged from a year earlier.
The company renamed itself Sprint on July 12, dropping Nextel from its name barely two weeks after it closed down the Nextel wireless network.
Looking forward
The new Sprint is optimistic about the future: It reported record revenue, subscriber numbers and average revenue per subscriber on its remaining Sprint networks, and has gained access to new spectrum for future growth with the recent acquisition of Clearwire and of spectrum from U.S. Cellular. But the company has also been acquired in its turn by Japanese network operator SoftBank, bringing a cash infusion to Sprint and increasing its leverage with network infrastructure manufactures and handset suppliers.
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