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Update: Sprint's Hesse comments on Clearwire merger voteApr 24, 2013 (The Kansas City Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Sprint Nextel Corp. cut its first quarter losses but continued to shed customers as its network partner Clearwire Corp. set a vote date on Sprint's buyout offer. The Overland Park-based wireless phone company said it lost $643 million in the first three months of this year, or 25.5 percent less than it has lost a year ago. The setback equaled 21 cents a share compared with the loss of 29 cents a share a year earlier. Subscriber counts fell by 415,000, including the loss of 560,000 customers under contract. It added customers who buy service month-to-month. Sprint finished March with 55.2 million subscribers, down from 56.1 million a year earlier. Clearwire said its shareholders would vote May 21 on Sprint's $2.2 billion offer to buy the remaining 49 percent of Clearwire it doesn't already own. Sprint chief executive Dan Hesse, in an interview with The Star, acknowledged that Sprint's offer for Clearwire is contingent on its own planned merger with Tokyo-based SoftBank Corp. He added, however, that it is not necessarily dependent on the SoftBank deal. "Sprint does have the option of still proceeding with that (Clearwire) transaction if the SoftBank merger doesn't complete. But we're not obligated to acquire Clearwire if the SoftBank/Sprint merger isn't completed," Hesse said. Hesse said he hopes for and anticipates approval from Clearwire shareholders. In a conference call with analysts, he also said Sprint expects the company's deals with SoftBank, Clearwire and US Cellular all to be completed by July 1. Hesse also acknowledged that Sprint's board of directors continues to weigh a rival merger bid from Dish Network Corp. Dish hopes its $25.5 billion bid for all of Sprint will dislodge Sprint's agreement with SoftBank for $20 billion to acquire 70 percent of Sprint. Sprint reduced its losses while spending more money to expand its network upgrade project called Network Vision. Sprint said it has 13,500 towers on the air and 25,000 others ready to start or involved in upgrades. Also, Sprint said it will shut down its old Nextel network as planned at the end of June. The pending shutdown accelerated the loss of customers who use that network. Sprint said 771,000 left it during the quarter, with about 45 percent staying with the company by switching to its Sprint network that is getting the upgrade. Sprint said it activated more than 1.5 million iPhones for customers in the company, 43 percent of whom were new to Sprint. Mark Davis can be reached at 816-234-4372 and [email protected]. ___ (c)2013 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |