Sprint Q4 Earnings: Loss of $1.32 Billion, Sold 6.6 Million iPhones in 2012

U.S. carrier Sprint has announced its 2012 fourth quarter earnings, with the company reporting a $1.32 billion loss.

The wireless carrier reported fourth-quarter subscriber losses for its Nextel platform, with more than 1 million customers leaving the service. Its core division experienced a loss of 337,000 subscribers. It expects to close down Nextel soon.

Sprint reported a loss of $1.32 billion, or 44 cents per share, an increase from the $1.3 billion, or 43 cents a share, loss it suffered during 2011's Q4. Revenue, though, increased to $9 billion. Analysts expected a per-share loss of 46 cents a share and revenue of $8.92 billion. Full year 2012 net operating revenue stood at $35.3 billion.

The company sold 6.6 million iPhones during 2012, with 2.2 million units being sold in the fourth quarter, of which 38 percent of subscribers were new to the carrier. Overall smartphone sales during Q4 stood at 6.1 million. It's currently awaiting a $20 billion merger with Japan's SoftBank, with the U.S. carrier also attempting to acquire the remaining stake in Internet service provider Clearwire that it doesn't already own.

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