Sprint (S) reported mixed news in its earnings today, though investors seem to have decided that the good outweighed the bad, as the stock was up over 11% by market close. Cost improvements allowed it to reduce its net loss this quarter to $151 million, and revenue came in above expectations. Operating income was also at its highest point in 7 years. The bad news however was that the company saw a net loss of about 470k wireless subscribers this quarter, compared to a significant gain in the same quarter last year.
In this segment from Tuesday's Tech Teardown, host Erin Kennedy and Motley Fool tech and telecom bureau chief Evan Niu discuss some of the contributing factors to the net subscriber loss, and they also take a look at Sprint's "Framily" initiative. The plan works like a normal family plan, but allows customers to include friends as well, up to ten people, which allows customers increased access to cost savings normally only available through family members. The plan added 1 million subscribers for Sprint in its first 40 days, and is now up to nearly 3 million. Evan discusses why the plan has been a big win for subscribership, but has also had a negative impact on average revenue per user.
