NEW YORK (AP) — Sprint Nextel on Thursday said it added more wireless subscribers in the first quarter than it has in five years, mainly on cheap service plans, as its turnaround continued despite the new threat of Verizon’s iPhone.
Sprint added a net 1.1 million subscribers in the January-to-March period as its contract-free Virgin Mobile and Boost brands raked in a record number of new subscribers.
Verizon’s launch of the iPhone on Feb. 10 and AT&T’s price cut on an older iPhone model didn’t leave Sprint completely unscathed. Sprint posted a net loss of 114,000 subscribers on contract-based plans.
