Sprint posts decline in third-quarter revenue

Sprint Corp posted a decline in third-quarter revenue on Wednesday as it lost more subscribers than expected following the shutdown of its older iDen network.

Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile operator which is 80 percent owned by SoftBank, reported net subscriber losses of 360,000 for the quarter. Six analysts contacted by Reuters expected losses of roughly 313,000, on average.

The company had warned that third-quarter numbers would be hurt by departures of corporate customers because of Sprint's shutdown at the end of June of its iDen network, which was used mostly by business customers.

Sprint reported a profit of $383 million, compared with a loss of $767 million in the year-ago quarter, before Sprint's deal with SoftBank and its July purchase of Clearwire Corp.

The company said the latest quarter was helped by a one-time, non-cash, $1.4 billion gain, net of taxes, related to its previously held investment in Clearwire.

Revenue fell to $8.68 billion from $8.76 billion.

Sprint said it still expects 2013 adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of between $5.1 billion and $5.3 billion, including the dilutive effects of the SoftBank and Clearwire transactions. It also stuck by its target of 2013 capital expenditures of about $8 billion.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)