Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) reported a better financial performance for the third quarter of the current fiscal year compared last year. The company delivered a net income of $383 million compared with its $699 million net loss last year. Its revenue was $8.68 billion.
According to the third-largest wireless carrier in the United States, its adjusted EBITDA increased by 5% year-over-year to $1.34 billion. The company said its smartphones account for 92% of its postpaid handset sales.
Sprint sold almost 5 million smartphones
During the third quarter, Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) sold almost 5 million smartphones and its postpaid sales mix record levels. The company sold 1.4 million iPhones wherein 40% were new customers.
The wireless carrier said it lost 360,000 postpaid subscribers during the period but it gained 84,000 prepaid subscribers. Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) also gained 181,000 wholesale and affiliate customers during the period.
In a statement, Sprint CEO Dan Hess said, “During the third quarter Sprint platform postpaid service revenue and ARPU once again hit record levels and we continue to make great strides in our 4G LTE rollout. We expect our network investments will bring customers greater speeds and capacity and, when combined with our unique unlimited for life offers, will improve our competitive positioning.”
The company said its wireless service revenue increased for the 13th consecutive quarter to $7.3 billion. Its postpaid service revenue was $5.8 billion and its postpaid ARPU was $64.28.
Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) said its 4G LTE deployment is on schedule to provide coverage for 200 million people in 230 markets by the end of this year.
For the full year 2013, the company projected that it will be able to deliver an adjusted EBITDA in the range of $5.1 billion to $5.3 billion including the dilutive effects of its transaction with Softbank Corp (OTCMKTS:SFTBF) (TYO:9984) and Clearwire Corp (NASDAQ:CLWR).
The stock price of Sprint climbed
Its competitors, Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) added 927,000 and 363,000 subscribers, respectively, during the third quarter. T-Mobile US Inc (NYSE:TMUS) is also becoming more competitive after introducing attractive new plans with free international roaming data.
The stock price of Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) climbed by 1.72% to $6.80 per share in the mid-afternoon trading in New York.