Net losses double at Sprint Nextel Net losses at Sprint Nextel, the third-largest US mobile network operator by subscribers, almost doubled in the first quarter in part reflecting charges related to the planned shutdown of the company's Nextel network. Sprint, which is in the process of phasing out its Nextel service and building a new 4G network based on LTE technology, reported a net loss of $863m, or 29 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $439m, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest results included depreciation of approximately $543m, or 18 cents per share, primarily due to accelerated depreciation related to the expected shutdown of the Nextel platform and a one-time net benefit of $170m, or approximately 6 cents per share, related to the ending of a spectrum hosting contract with LightSquared, the struggling mobile broadband start-up. More positively, Sprint Nextel's wireless service revenues increased by more than 7 per cent to $7.2bn during the quarter, driven primarily by a significant increase in the average monthly revenue from contract subscribers to the Sprint network, which grew by $4.03. Sprint Nextel also managed to add valuable postpaid customers on its Sprint network during the quarter despite fierce competition from its larger rivals, Verizon Wireless and AT&T. Overall the company added a net 1.1m subscribers during the first quarter, bringing its total at the end of March to a record 56m. The total number of customers on the Sprint platform grew almost 4 per cent sequentially including 263,000 postpaid net subscriber additions, 870,000 prepaid net subscriber additions and 785,000 wholesale and affiliate net subscriber additions. Sprint, which began offering Apple's popular iPhone in the fourth quarter of 2011, sold more than 1.5 million iPhones, with 44 per cent going to new customers. Prepaid churn - a key measure of customer loyalty - on the Sprint network improved to 2.92 per cent, the tenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year improvement. "The continuing revenue growth on the Sprint platform, which represents the future of our company, driven by record Arpu (average revenue per user) improvement and strong net subscriber growth, contributed to our adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortisation performance of $1.2bn," said Dan Hesse, Sprint chief executive. Sprint said its key Network Vision upgrade project - crucial to its 4G plans - remains on track. To date, the company has approximately 600 sites on air, which are meeting speed and coverage enhancement targets. Sprint expects to bring approximately 12,000 sites on air by the end of 2012 and to complete the majority of its Network Vision rollout in 2013. So far the company has taken approximately 1,300 iDEN sites off air and expects to shut down a total of 9,600 before the end of the third quarter. As part of Network Vision, Sprint plans to launch 4G LTE in six major cities by the middle of this year, including Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Atlanta, Kansas City and Baltimore.