Sprint's revenue beats estimates as price cuts draw subscribers

05/02/2015 - 14:06

(Reuters) - Sprint Corp's quarterly revenue fell less than expected as the U.S. mobile provider attracted more subscribers by cutting prices and offering promotions.

Shares of the company, which is 80 percent owned by Japan's SoftBank Corp <9984.T>, rose 3.7 percent to $4.75 in premarket trading on Thursday.

Wireless carriers have been going after each others' subscribers with discounts and attractive plans as they try to increase revenue in a highly competitive, nearly saturated market.

Sprint said it added 892,000 total wireless subscribers in the three months ended Dec. 31, well above Wall Street analysts' estimate of 790,000.

The company's net operating revenue fell 1.8 percent to $8.97 billion, but beat analysts' average estimate of $8.68 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sprint's net loss more than doubled to $2.38 billion, or 60 cents per share, from $1.04 billion, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier.

The latest quarter included a $2.1 billion non-cash impairment charge.

Through Wednesday's close of $4.58, Sprint's stock had dropped more than 40 percent in the past 12 months.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)