Sprint Q2 results disappoint, plans to axe 2,000 jobs

Amid announcing disappointing second quarter results, Sprint has stated plans to cut operating costs by $1.5 billion including cutting the workforce by 2,000. The carrier, which reported an operating loss of $192 million, said it expects to save $400 million through the job cuts.

“We have started a transformational journey,” Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure said. “While the company continues to face headwinds, we have begun the first phase of our plan and are encouraged with the early results. Every day we are focused on improving our standing with consumers, improving our network and controlling our costs.”

Sprint reported a slight improvement in churn, which was down to 2.16% from 2.36% (retail post-paid) compared to the same period last year. The operator had a total of 55 million connections at the end of the quarter, with 590,000 Sprint platform net additions, mostly attributed to the strong wholesale adds at 827,000. Prepaid base grew by 35,000 but post-paid was down by 272,000.

Total wireless net additions were up at 150,000 compared to Q2 2013 when net additions amounted to 2,347,000 losses. Although the improvement is comparatively pretty huge, net 150,000 new customers is hardly cause for celebration in the context of the overall US market.

“While we are pleased to see customers respond to our new value proposition, we must continue to take bold actions to reach our goal of returning to growth in post-paid phone customers,” Claure said. “By improving our competitive position and driving costs out of the business, we plan to deliver long-term value creation.”

Although the company in a true corporate style maintains a positive tone, it seems Sprint’s woes are far from over as it faces some fairly drastic austerity measures. Had the T-Mobile US acquisition materialised, Sprint would be in a much stronger position but for now it is forced to wade through the low tide on its own.