Sprint reported a narrower quarterly loss on Wednesday than analysts expected as it added subscribers, and the wireless carrier declined to hold a post-earnings conference call amid speculation of a merger with rival T-Mobile.
Sources told Reuters this week that T-Mobile and Sprint were laying the groundwork for special committees of their boards of directors to decide on a merger between the third and fourth largest U.S. wireless carriers.
The companies are expected to announce an agreement in the first half of November to create a company with more than 130 million U.S. subscribers, just behind Verizon Communications (VZ) and AT&T (T).
Sprint (S) shares were down 0.14% at $7.00 in premarket trading.
Like T-Mobile (TMUS), which reported earnings on Monday, Sprint did not elaborate on the speculation over the merger.
Sprint reported net additions of 279,000 phone subscribers who pay a monthly bill in the quarter. Analysts at Wells Fargo (WFC) had expected 225,000 additions.
The No. 4 U.S. wireless carrier reported a net loss of $48 million, or one cent per share, in the second quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to a loss of $142 million, or 4 cents per share, a year earlier.
Net operating revenue was $7.93 billion, down from $8.25 billion in the year-earlier period.
According to Thomson Reuters, analysts had expected a loss of two cents a share and revenue of $8.05 billion.
