Sprint Perseveres Despite Drop In Income

Sprint reported a net loss of $594 million, or 21 cents a share, in the first quarter. A year ago, the company lost $505 million, or 18 cents a share. Revenue declined 12 percent to $8.21 billion, below analysts' expectation of $8.28 billion.

But the telecom company has persevered despite a steady drop in its quarterly revenue. Traditional, or "postpaid" plans, in which users pay after using their plan's minutes at the end of the month, continued to drop, falling 17 percent from the previous quarter.

However, the company has seen growth in one specific area -- prepaid phone plans. Subscribers to such plans grew 2.25 percent in the first quarter, on top of 2.16 percent growth in the last quarter of 2008. Sprint will likely look to capitalize on the popularity of prepaid accounts -- popular during trying economic times because they are generally a less expensive alternative to postpaid plans. The company can do that by driving volume of prepaid plans with incentives and new devices.

One such device, Palm's newest smartphone, the Palm Pre, is expected to be available at Sprint stores soon.

The Pre is highly anticipated. Press reports since the beginning of the year have heralded its coming "by the end of the month." The device is expected, for now, to debut by June. But the delays are frustrating subscribers, who are becoming increasingly restless. On Sprint's Facebook page, one fan writes: "I keep hearing the Pre should be out by the end of the week, what week is it anyway?"

In addition, Sprint's prepaid division has confirmed it is boosting network capacity for Boost Mobile subscribers to address SMS message delays, according to FierceMobileContent. A solution should be in effect by week's end.