Sprint’s Q3 earnings are out, indicating why Gary Forsee stepped down. Consolidated net operating revenues were $10 billion in the quarter, down from $10.5 billion a year ago. Net income was $64 million in the quarter, down from $279 million a year ago. Unlike most telcos, it’s the wireless business dragging down the results and being partly offset by improvements in the wireline business. For Sprint’s wireless business, total revenues were $8.7 billion, a fall of 1 percent sequentially and 4 percent year-on-year. However, data revenues increased 28 percent year-on-year. Adjusted Operating Income was $514 million, compared to $494 million in the second quarter of 2007 and $792 million in the third quarter of 2006.

SEE ALSO: Earnings: Sprint Q2 Income Down 90 Percent Annually; Data Revs Up 40 Percent

Churn: Sprint (NYSE: S) saw a net decline of 60,000 wireless subscribers in the quarter, although it did increase compared to the third quarter last year. CDMA post-paid, Boost Unlimited, wholesale and affiliate channels increased while iDEN post-paid and Boost pre-paid product lines saw decreases. In the quarter, post-paid churn was 2.3 percent on seasonally higher involuntary deactivations and competitive market conditions. At the end of Q3 Sprint had nearly 54 million total subscribers (compared to 51.9 million a year ago), of which around 34.1 million customers were on CDMA, 18.7 million were on iDEN, and 1.2 million were PowerSource users who access both network platforms.

ARPU: Post-paid ARPU was a bit over $59 in the quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 3 percent, and a 2 percent decrease sequentially. Data contributed more than $10 to overall post-paid ARPU in the third quarter and contributed more than $13 to CDMA post-paid ARPU. Pre-paid ARPU was a bit over $30, which also shows a steady decline ($31 in Q2, and $33 in Q306).

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