Sprint 2Q loss expands, revenue flat

Wireless carrier Sprint's second-quarter losses grew while revenue held steady in its first earnings report under majority owner SoftBank.

Third-ranked Sprint Corp. lost more than 2 million wireless customers, primarily due to the shutdown of the Nextel network. But it gained 412,000 subscribers by buying U.S. Cellular's business in the Midwest in May.

Sprint had 53.6 million subscribers by June's end, down from 55.2 million in March.

Net losses grew to $1.6 billion, or 53 cents per share. It lost $1.4 billion, or 46 cents per share, a year ago.

Excluding unexpected charges related to the Nextel shutdown, the adjusted loss came to 31 cents per share.

Revenue rose to $8.88 billion from $8.84 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected a 30 cents-per-share loss on revenue of $8.69 billion.