Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, on Thursday posted a lower profit as it lost subscribers in the third quarter and warned of continued weakness in fourth-quarter customer numbers.The company, which is searching for a new chief executive, said its profit fell to $64 million, or 2 cents per share, from $279 million, or 9 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.
Net operating revenue fell to $10.04 billion from $10.49 billion. The company said it lost 60,000 total net wireless customers in the quarter.
Last month it said it would lose 337,000 valuable
"Our third-quarter results reflect mixed performance as we address
Sprint said it expects net customer additions to continue to "be pressured" in the fourth quarter.
It also withdrew its previous target for double-digit growth for 2008 operating income before depreciation and amortization and said it does not expect to comment on the 2008 outlook until early next year.
It said it still expects full-year 2007 consolidated revenues to be slightly below $41 billion and adjusted OIBDA to be slightly below $11 billion.
The company also said it lowered its 2007 capital investment budget to be in the mid-$6 billion range compared with prior expectations for about $7.2 billion.
Sprint has lost more than a third of its value since it bought Nextel Communications in August 2005 as it has
