Sprint posts large fourth quarter loss, revenue rises

NEW YORK (AP) - Sprint Nextel, the country's third largest wireless carrier, says it lost $1.3 billion in its fourth quarter, about the same as a year ago, as it revamped its network for a comeback versus bigger competitors.

The Overland Park, Kan., company lost 44 cents per share in the October to December period versus 43 cents per share in the previous year.

The loss was slightly smaller than analysts had predicted. The average Wall Street forecast as polled by FactSet was 46 cents per share.

Revenue was $9 billion, up 3.2 percent from a year ago and slightly above analyst expectations of $8.9 billion.

Long-ailing Sprint Nextel Corp. has agreed to sell 70 percent of itself to Softbank Corp. of Japan for $20 billion. That deal is expected to close this summer.