Sprint unveils BlackBerry Tour smartphone

Sprint has launched the BlackBerry Tour smartphone on its nationwide 3G (EV-DO Rev. A) network in the US. The device also works on 2100 MHz UMTS/HSPA and quad-band EDGE/GSM/GPRS networks where Sprint has international roaming agreements. The BlackBerry Tour smartphone comes with a high-resolution display (480 x 360 at 245 ppi) plus intuitive trackball navigation, full qwerty keyboard, corporate and personal e-mail with attachment viewing, calendar, integrated address book, 3.2 megapixel camera up to 16 GB of expandable memory with a microSD/SDHC card, a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack, support for Bluetooth stereo headsets (A2DP/AVCRP), and built-in GPS supporting location-based services. The new device will be available at Sprint stores, online and over the phone later this summer for USD 199.99 with a two-year service agreement and USD 50 instant rebate and USD 100 mail-in rebate. Research In Motion said the handset will launch with other North American carriers this summer.


Source: www.telecompaper.com

Sprint sees strong growth in prepaid subscribers.

.

NEW YORK (May 05 2009): Sprint Nextel Corp posted a surprise quarterly profit excluding items, thanks to cost cuts and strong growth in a new service where customers pay for calls in advance, sending its shares up 16 percent. However

the No 3 US mobile service suffered its worst ever loss of valuable monthly bill-paying customers, who sign contracts of up to two years, as they defected to rivals.

Business clients also cancelled service due to the weak economy. "There are no clear signs that the business has made its turn," said Piper Jaffray analyst Christopher Larsen. "There's a mixture of good and bad there." Sprint's net loss swelled to $594 million, or 21 cents per share from a loss of $505 million, or 18 cents per share in the same quarter a year ago.

Excluding unusual items such as amortisation, Sprint's profit per share was 3 cents, compared with the average analyst forecast for a per share loss of 4 cents, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue fell 12 percent to $8.21 billion. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $8.29 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Sprint said it ended the quarter with an employee base of 49,000, down 7,000 from the fourth quarter, and told analysts on a conference call that it would cut its workforce by another 1,000 people in the current quarter. Chief Executive Dan Hesse said on the call that he was pleased by growth in some areas, but that the company was being hurt by the economy and needed to do more to stem defections of monthly bill paying customers, called post-paid subscribers.

Sprint lost a net 1.25 million post-paid customers in the quarter, compared with the average forecast for a loss of 1.1 million customers from eight analysts contacted by Reuters. "The impact of the economy in our disproportionally sizable business base continues to be a challenge to us," Hesse told analysts to explain the deterioration in post-paid losses.

However, the company added 764,000 net new Boost prepaid customers, who pay for calls in advance and do not commit to long-term contracts. Sprint said growth was primarily driven by a new $50 unlimited service plan launched by the Boost unit. Eight analysts contacted by Reuters had on average been expecting Sprint to add about 185,000 prepaid customers, with estimates ranging from a loss of 150,000 to a gain of 600,000.

"Prepaid turned around but your highest value subscriber is your post-paid subscriber and that was the weakest to date," said Commresearch analyst Greg Lundberg. Hesse expects a similar level of prepaid customer additions in the current quarter, due to the popularity of the new Boost plan.

Sprint expects 2009 post-paid and prepaid subscriber losses to improve compared with 2008. The CEO said post-paid numbers would be helped by Sprint's Pre, a high-profile phone from Palm Inc, in the current quarter but he did not give a specific launch date. Sprint shares rose 74 cents or 16 percent to $5.41 in morning trade on New York Stock Exchange.

http://www.flare.com.pk/news.php?n=735