Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel has narrowed its net loss to $1.6 billion ($0.57 per share) in Q4 from last year’s $29.3 billion ($10.31 per share) loss, as it has concluded write-downs on the 2005 acquisition of Nextel. Not including the write-down and other one-time charges, the company said it would have lost a penny per share, better than the 3-cent-a-share loss expected, on average, by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters (NSDQ: TRIN), AP reported.  That news sent Sprint shares surging 13 percent at the opening bell. Revenue, meanwhile, fell 14 percent to $8.4 billion, lower than analysts’ anticipated $8.55 billion.

—Exodus continues: There was still plenty of bad news for investors to worry about. Sprint, which has been plagued by subscriber defections, said total wireless customers fell by a net 1.3 million in Q4—the same amount as in Q3—, including losses of 1.1 million post-paid customers and 314,000 prepaid users. On the plus side, Sprint gained146,000 wholesale and affiliate subscribers. In all, Sprint had 49.3 million customers at the end of 2008, compared to 53.8 million at the end of 2007.

—Wireless post-paid churn: Subscriber turnover was 2.16 percent, slightly up from Q3, though lower than Q407’s 2.29 percent.

—Wireless post-paid ARPU: The revenue Sprint garnered from subscribers used to be fairly solid, but the worsening economy was blamed for that record being dented lately. The segment was stable sequentially at $56, as growth in data helped offset voice declines, but fell about 4 percent compared Q407. Pre-paid subscriber revenues were up slightly on average to $30 from last year’s $28.

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