Tuesday, February 4, 2003

Sprint Reports Stabilized LD Pricing, 20% Revenue Gains for FR/ATM, 9% for IP

Sprint reported Q4 revenues of $6.53 billion, compared to $6.52 billion last year. Full-year 2002 consolidated revenues were $26.63 billion, up 4% from $25.52 billion in 2001. Net income for Q4 was $39 million, compared to a fourth quarter loss of $1.23 billion in 2001. Some highlights of the report:

operations produced more than $665 million of positive free cash flow in Q4.
the pricing environment for long-distance services continues to stabilize, even with recent RBOC entry into the long-distance business.
data services revenues in Q4 increased 7% year-over-year. Frame Relay and ATM revenues both increased more than 20% from the same period last year. Internet revenues increased 9% from the same period last year.
dial-up IP revenue declined in double digit amounts due to AOL repricing
total access lines for Sprint's Local Telecommunications Division declined 1.7% in 2002
while voice grade equivalent lines grew 9%.
Sprint's Local Telecommunications Division added 38,000 new DSL lines in Q4, ending with 150,000 DSL lines in service.
In 2003, Sprint FON Group Capital expenditures are expected to increase slightly to $2.3 billion. Global markets has targeted capital of $800 million primarily to support growth in demand for enterprise services. The local division capital plan of $1.4 billion includes investments for broadband initiatives and the phased transition from circuit to packet switching.
Sprint PCS had 250,000 net customer additions in Q4 and more than 1.2 million net new customers for 2002.
Sprint PCS average revenue per user for the quarter was just over $62 compared to just under $61 a year ago.
Sprint PCS capital expenditures were $590 million for Q4 and $2.67 billion in 2002. For 2003, Sprint PCS capital expenditures are expected to decline to a range of $2.3 - 2.4 billion.
http://www.sprint.com

  • Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported that Sprint's Board of Directors is forcing out William T. Esrey, chairman and chief executive officer, and Ronald T. LeMay, president and chief operating officer, over an issue of tax accounting of their stock options.