Sprint Nextel Corp. watched another 1.3 million wireless subscribers head for its competitors during the third quarter, leading the company to post a loss that sent its stock skidding Friday.
Dan Hesse, the Overland Park, Kan.-based company’s chief executive, told analysts that Sprint Nextel plans to work harder to attract new customers during the upcoming holiday season but acknowledged “we have yet to turn the corner.”
“We made good progress on our operational priorities in the third quarter and resolved some key issues,” he said. “Still, subscriber losses are too high.”
The nation’s third-largest wireless provider said it lost $326 million, or 11 cents per share, for the three months ending Sept. 30. It had earned $64 million, or 2 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.
Excluding one-time items, Sprint Nextel said it would have broken even during the quarter. On that basis, analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected a profit of 3 cents per share.
Sprint Nextel’s revenue fell 12 percent to $8.81 billion. Analysts expected $8.85 billion.
Sprint Nextel shares fell 28 cents, or 7.6 percent, to $3.40 in morning trading Friday.
Since its 2005 acquisition of Nextel Communications Inc., the company has struggled with technical problems, unfocused marketing and difficulties integrating operations. Despite heavy investments to correct those problems, Hesse said the company still suffers from poor perceptions in the market.
Competing devices, such as Apple Inc.’s iPhone being sold through AT&T Inc., haven’t helped, although Sprint has fought back with the Samsung Instinct and other comparable smart phones.
Sprint Nextel’s wireless business reported a 13 percent decline in revenue to $7.5 billion as its subscriber base fell by 1.3 million. That included 1.1 million valuable “postpaid” customers who have contracts. That was worse than in the second quarter, when Sprint Nextel lost 901,000 subscribers, including 776,000 postpaid customers.
Postpaid churn, or the…