(Bloomberg) -- Sprint Corp. subscriber gains exceeded analysts’ predictions in a surprising show of strength for the smallest major carrier in the U.S.

  • Sprint added 494,000 regular monthly subscribers in the fiscal third quarter as churn, the rate of monthly cancellations, rose to 1.98% from 1.85% a year ago. Analysts expected a gain of 177,000 subscribers and 1.99% churn. The company hasn’t hosted an earnings call in three quarters while awaiting a U.S. court decision on its $26.5 billion takeover by T-Mobile US Inc.
  • See more details.

Key Insights

  • Sprint executives have said the company will be unable to compete against its larger rivals if it is not allowed to combine with T-Mobile. Sprint has about $40 billion in debt and faces a costly network expenses to compete on service quality and to catch up to others on 5G expansion.
  • Attracting new mobile customers has become more challenging after Verizon Communications Inc. started offering a free year of Disney+ video streaming service. And T-Mobile, the fastest-growing carrier, has attracted millions of customers by offering free Netflix Inc. subscriptions.
  • A U.S. District Court judge is expected to rule within weeks on a lawsuit brought by 13 state attorneys general that seeks to block the T-Mobile deal because it would reduce wireless competition and lead to higher prices and less innovations.

Market Reaction

  • Shares edged up 0.2% in premarket trading Monday. The stock is down 23% in the past year, compared with gains of 5.6% for Verizon and 26% for AT&T Inc.

Get More

  • Read the statement.
  • See Sprint estimates.

(Updates with shares in Market Reaction. An earlier version of the story corrected the year-earlier churn figure in the first bullet point.)

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Moritz in New York at smoritz6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.