Sprint Third-Quarter Loss Widens

(Updated with CEO conference call comments)

OVERLAND PARK, Kansas (TheStreet) -- Sprint Nextel(S)'s third-quarter loss widened to $478 million, but CEO Dan Hesse says that the company is starting to turn the corner.

Sprint, which has been wrestling with customer losses, reported revenue of $8 billion before the market opened, down from $8.8 billion in the same period last year. Sales were just below analysts' estimate of $8.09 billion. The company lost 17 cents a share on a net loss of $478 million, down from a loss of 11 cents a share and a net loss of $326 million in the prior year's quarter. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had predicted a loss of 15 cents a share.

The wireless provider lost a total of 135,000 net retail subscribers in the quarter, although Sprint saw sequential improvement in addition of new post-paid and prepaid customers.

"Sprint achieved its best net retail results in more than two years and improvement in both post-paid and prepaid gross subscriber additions in the third quarter," Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in a statement released before market open. "We expect to see sequential quarterly improvement in both post-paid and total net subscriber losses in the fourth quarter of 2009."

The Kansas-based firm, which began offering Palm's(PALM) Pre phone during the second quarter, generated free cash flow of $664 million during the quarter, and Hesse said that Sprint is "rigorously" managing its costs.

Sprint's wireless business brought in $6.9 billion during the quarter, down from $7.5 billion in the same period last year. Sales also dipped 2% sequentially, with Sprint blaming the declines on fewer post-paid subscribers, although this was partially offset by more prepaid customers.