Sprint

Sprint Nextel shares are down 25% to close at $8.70 today.

Fitch Ratings downgraded several of its debt ratings to BBB- from BBB on Friday over a lack of visibility of the company's performance going forward and concerns over financial and operating results.

In the fourth quarter, Sprint lost 109,000 subscribers overall and 683,000 postpaid customers.
Sprint ended 2007 with 53.8 million wireless customers, barely higher than the 53.1 million it served at the end of 2006. AT&T gained a net 4.7 million mobile customers through the first three quarters of 2007 to 65.7 million. In the same time frame, Verizon added 4.6 million mobile subscribers to 63.7 million. What's worse, the number of postpaid subscribers served by Sprint fell by 1 million in 2007 to 40.8 million.

Sprint said it would cut 4,000 jobs from its workforce of 60,000 just one year after it eliminated 5,000 positions. Sprint also said it would close 125 of its 1,400 stores. Those cuts would save as much as $800 million on an annualized basis, the company said. Sprint aims to complete the reductions in the first half of 2008.

Poor customer service is cited as the reason for the mass subscriber defections. Anecdotally I can vouch for that. I am in a dispute with them now because they overcharged me for data usage both of the prior months and refuse to budge. If I weren't locked into a contract I'd be one of that million.