• February 19, 2009

Sprint Nextel reported a $1.6 billion net loss for the fourth quarter and a $2.8 billion loss for the year, with some of the losses attributable to final charges related to the company's 2005 acquisition of Nextel. Nevertheless, the company continued to lose customers.

The company lost 1.2 million customers in the fourth quarter and 4.6 million customers for the year in 2008. The company had 49.3 million total subscribers at the end of 2008. However, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse said the company had enough cash on hand to meet its debt requirements through 2010.

"With this financial stability, we can build on the improvements we've made in customer care, strengthen our brand and maintain continued strong network performance in 2009," Hesse said in a statement. He also said the company had high expectations for the launch of the Palm Pre later this year.--Aaron Baar