No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier Sprint added more subscribers than expected in the third quarter, helped by promotions, and posted a smaller quarterly loss as it cut costs.
The company added a net 405,000 subscribers who pay their bills on a monthly basis in the quarter ended Dec. 31. Analysts were expecting 380,000, according to market research firm FactSet StreetAccount.
Sprint (S), majority owned by Japan’s SoftBank (SFTBY), said in 2015 that it aimed to cut fiscal 2016 expenses by as much as $2.5 billion through layoffs and cost controls.
“Sprint is turning the corner,” Chief Executive Marcelo Claure said in a statement.
“Even with all the aggressive promotional offers from our competitors, we were still able to add more postpaid phone customers than both Verizon and AT&T.”
The company earlier this year said it plans to add 5,000 jobs in the United States as a part of a previously disclosed pledge by SoftBank.
The company said its net loss narrowed to $479 million, or 12 cents per share, from $836 million, or 21 cents per share, a year earlier.
Churn, or customer defections among wireless retail customers who pay bills on a monthly basis, increased to 1.67% of total wireless subscribers, compared with the average analyst estimate of 1.6%, according to FactSet.
Net operating revenue rose to $8.55 billion from $8.11 billion, beating analysts’ average estimate of $8.27, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares of the company were up 1.5% at $9.25 in premarket trading on Tuesday.