Wireless carrier Sprint-Nextel's fourth quarter and full-year results were like something out of a bad dream.

The company's fourth quarter revenues plummeted by $1.62 billion. A whopping 1.3 million subscribers cancelled their service with the wireless carrier, bringing its overall subscriber count to 49.3 million, compared to 53.8 million at the end of 2007.

"In tough economic times, we're generating substantial cash and reducing costs to ensure we remain financially sound,"said Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint, Overland Park, KS, during the company's earnings conference call.

"We already have the cash on hand to be able to meet our debt service requirements at least through the end of 2010,"he said. "With this financial stability, we can build on the improvements we've made in customer care, strengthen our brand and maintain continued strong network performance in 2009.

Sprint has now lost more than 5 million postpaid customers over the past five quarters.

In comparison, AT&T added 2.1 million subscribers in the fourth quarter and Verizon Wireless added 1.2 million.

Sprint reported that's its wireless churn rate was 2.16 percent.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the company served 36.7 million post-paid subscribers, 3.6 million prepaid subscribers and 9.0 million wholesale and affiliate subscribers.

Subscribers by network platform include 35.5 million on CDMA, 12.4 million on iDEN and 1.4 million Power Source users who utilize both networks.

Almost 10 percent of post-paid customers upgraded their handsets during the fourth quarter, resulting in increased contract renewals.

In the fourth quarter, the company added to its device and service capabilities with the launch of the Samsung Highnote, LG Lotus and the award-winning Samsung Rant, all featuring the easy-to-use One Click interactive user interface, and the HTC Touch Pro, Touch Diamond by HTC, and i576 by Motorola.

For 2009, Sprint has announced that it will be the exclusive carrier partner for both the Palm Pre and Motorola Stature i9. The company plans to launch a total of seven new Nextel Direct Connect handsets as part of its new device portfolio, with most launching during the first half of the year.

Wireless service revenues for the quarter of $6.6 billion declined 13 percent year-over-year and 4 percent sequentially.

The year-over-year decline and the sequential decline were due primarily to fewer wireless subscribers. Wholesale, affiliate, and other revenues were down sequentially and as compared to the year-ago period primarily due to a decline in average monthly service revenue per wholesale subscriber.

Wireless post-paid ARPU in the quarter was stable sequentially at $56, as growth in data helped offset voice declines. Wireless post-paid ARPU declined by approximately 4 percent compared to the year-ago period, reflecting continued pressure on iDEN voice monthly access and overage revenues, partially offset by data revenue growth.

Regardless of the fact that Sprint's fourth quarter and year-over-year results were nothing to write home about, the company is optimistic about the year to come.
On Nov. 28 the company closed a transaction with Clearwire Corporation.

At closing, Sprint contributed assets, including its 2.5 gigahertz spectrum and WiMAX-related assets, in exchange for an ownership interest in Clearwire.

Clearwire is deploying WiMAX, a 4G technology, as a new nationwide network. The services supported by these technologies will give subscribers with compatible devices high-speed access to the Internet and a variety of increasingly sophisticated data services.

Sprint has entered into a mobile virtual network operator arrangement with Clearwire that enables it to resell Clearwire's 4G wireless services under the Sprint brand name.

"Independent evaluations report our significant improvement in customer care and network
Performance,"Mr. Hesse said. "Customers are responding to our messages of value, simplicity and productivity.

"Simply Everything provides a worry-free postpaid experience and we are bringing the lessons learned from this success to our new family plans and to the prepaid market with the hassle-free national Boost Monthly Unlimited offer,"he said. "We also have high expectations for the Palm® Pre handset which will be launched later this year.