America's third-largest carrier added 401,000 postpaid customers over the quarter, but lost 644,000 from its Nextel network. Over 2012 as awhole, Sprint added a total of 1.5 million postpaid subscribers, and when offset against losses from the Nextel network, added a total of 605,000 new customers over its entire network — that includespostpaid, prepaid, and wholesale. The Nextel network is set to close down later this year, and Sprint has failed to convince a large number of Nextel subscribers to switch to its network.
The fourth quarter of 2012 is the first full quarter to close since Sprint's acquisition by Japanese carrier SoftBank was announced, but since that deal hasn't yet closed, it has yet to dramatically affect Sprint's business. Sprint says the deal is still tracking to close by the middle of this year, so we should see the effects of SoftBank in thenot too distant future.
