Sprint Nextel Corp. is seeing signs of progress in its efforts to improve the customer mobile experience, as the wireless carrier's post-paid churn improved more than 45 basis points from the first quarter, to less than 2 percent this quarter.

The wireless carrier achieved $9.1 billion in consolidated net operating revenue and a diluted loss per share of 12 cents. The company reported cash flow from operating activities of $1.1 billion and a cash position of approximately $3.5 billion in the quarter.

"We are seeing signs of progress from our efforts to improve the customer experience, rebuild the Sprint brand and increase our profitability," said Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel CEO during the company's earnings call. "Our company-wide retention efforts, which include Simply Everything plans, our Now Network campaign and the launch of the Instinct handset are proving to be effective retention tools."

Sprint Nextel achieved stable post-paid ARPU, driven by the success of Simply Everything with high value customers.

Its year-to-date free cash flow was $181 million with a total liquidity of $4.7 billion.

The company served 51.9 million customers at the end of the period, compared to 54.0 million at the end of the second quarter of 2007.

Its mix of prime customers improved sequentially and year-over-year for new customers and the post-paid base.

For the quarter, total wireless customers declined by 901,000, including losses of 776,000 post-paid customers and 250,000 traditional prepaid users, partially offset by gains of 112,000 Boost Unlimited customers and a 13,000 increase in the number of wholesale and affiliate subscribers.

At the end of the second quarter, the company served 38.9 million post-paid subscribers, 4.2 million prepaid subscribers and 8.7 million wholesale and affiliate subscribers.

In the second quarter, the company added to its device and service capabilities with the launch of the Instinct, the nationwide introduction of four Nextel Direct Connect handsets on CDMA using the EVDO-Rev A network and the Blackberry Curve.

The company also simplified its service pricing and completed its conversion of post-paid subscribers to a new unified billing platform.

Wireless service revenues of $7.0 billion declined 11% percent year-over-year and 2 percent sequentially.

The year-over-year decline was due to lower ARPU and fewer subscribers, while the sequential decline was due to fewer wireless subscribers.

Wholesale, affiliate and other service revenues were flat sequentially and were down compared to the year-ago period due to the mix of wholesale customers.

Rival wireless carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T also recently reported its financial results for this quarter.

Verizon Wireless' second quarter financial results place it at the top of the domestic carrier charts, beating long-time rival AT&T in terms of churn, turnover and customer additions.

Verizon Wireless reported 1.5 million net customer additions, a record low 1.12 percent churn rate and total revenues of $12.1 billion, an increase of almost 12 percent over last year's Q2 numbers. The carrier says that its wireless operating income margin was 28.6 percent, its highest ever (see story).

Wireless growth continues for telecoms giant AT&T in the second quarter with subscriber gains, increased wireless data revenues and improved margins.

AT&T Wireless boasted a 15.8 percent overall increase of revenue for the second quarter. Sales grew to $12 billion and wireless service revenues grew 14.8 percent to $11 billion, excluding handset and accessory sales (see story).