Newsletter
Rome was not built in a day and indeed Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure never promised that Sprint could turn the corner in a day. However, Sprint just released their operating results for Q1 of fiscal year 2016, and just about every number year-on-year is on the upswing. Sprint had it lowest postpaid churn rate in company history at 1.39%, not to mention the highest first quarter postpaid additions in nine years – 180,000 compared to net losses of 12,000 last year. These are all very impressive numbers for a carrier that has been struggling to keep afloat as Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile keep chipping away at Sprint’s credibility and its ability to deliver good service. Verizon and AT&T are the undisputed champs for the number one and two spots, but T-Mobile and Sprint have quite a battle going on for third place.
Claure believes their best days are ahead of them – with the highest additions of new postpaid customers in nine years, the lowest churn rate for postpaid users in company history, and porting over more postpaid customers from all three national carriers – the first time in five years. Sprint reported $8 billion in net operating revenues, with a net loss of $302 million, and operating income of $361 million. Some of this is attributed to Paul Marcarelli – you may remember him as a Verizon spokesman for years traveling around the country saying, “can you hear me now?” He works for Sprint now in what has become one of the most successful campaigns in Sprint’s history. In the new ads, Paul claims that it’s 2016, and all networks provide good service, so why not switch to Sprint and save yourself some money. Sprint claims the ad has been viewed over 8 million times on YouTube – “Can you hear that?”
Some of the financial numbers are not as rosy as last year – the net loss of $302 million or $.08 per share is higher than the $20 million or $0.01 per share last year. The operating income of $361 million is less than the $501 million in the same quarter last year. However, net cash provided by operating activities was $542 million for the quarter compared to only $128 million last year. Sprint’s liquidity grew to nearly $11 billion, and they are in an excellent position to purchase the necessary 2.5GHz network equipment. The latest reports give Sprint favorable numbers – RootMetrics award Sprint 75% more first place finishes in the 125 markets tested with outright wins in Chicago, Houston, and Atlanta.