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Sprint Nextel lost more than 700,000 traditional iDEN customers while registering a $211 million loss during the first quarter, offsetting growth in other sectors of the wireless carrier's business, corporate officials said last month during the company's earnings conference call.
During the first quarter, the carrier lost 1.1 million prepaid iDEN customers, but about one-third of those users migrated to the company's CDMA or PowerSource - which uses a dual-mode phone that leverages both the iDEN and CDMA networks - packages, Sprint Nextel Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh said during the call.
Sprint Nextel CEO Gary Forsee attributed the iDEN customer losses to "lingering network-perception issues" but said the carrier's recent investments in the iDEN system has the system running at "an all-time best" level.
In January, Sprint Nextel projected a difficult 2007, and many of the Q1 numbers remained in line with that guidance. By the end of the year, Sprint Nextel expects to have 2 million to 3...