Suffering from a continuing customer exodus, Sprint Nextel (S) posted a $326 million loss for its third quarter.

During the third quarter Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint Nextel said 1.3 million wireless customers left the company with roughly 1.1 million of them falling into the “postpaid” category. Postpaid customers are ones that sign up for annual plans and pay monthly. According to MarketWatch, Sprint has lost more than 4 million customers during the past two years.

Sprint said it expects to lose more postpaid customers in the fourth quarter.

For its third-quarter, the nation’s third largest wireless provider posted a net loss of $326 million, or 11 cents a share, compared with income of 64 million, or two cents a share, in the year-earlier third quarter. Revenue declined 12% to $8.82 billion.

Excluding items, Sprint Nextel said it would have broken even on a per-share basis compared with adjusted income of 23 cents a share in last year’s third quarter. Analysts, according to Thomson Reuters, had expected Sprint Nextel to weigh in with earnings of a three cents a share and revenue of $8.85 billion.

Sprint’s wireless business had a 13% decline in revenue to $7.5 billion.

In addition to reporting quarterly results, Sprint Nextel said it reduced the amount it can borrow from its credit agreement to $4.5 billion from $6 billion but at the same time increased the allowed debt ratio to 4.25 times earnings before taxes and other adjustments, up from 3.5 times earnings. The company said it repaid $1 billion of the loan under the amended credit agreement.

“During tough economic times, we tightly managed our business to generate and retain cash and maintain substantial liquidity while continuing to reduce debt,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel CEO, in a press release.