Clearwire Corp.'s (CLWR) fourth-quarter loss widened as the
wireless broadband provider reported a continued decline in
wholesale revenue and higher retail customer turnover.
Clearwire has lost money and struggled with a heavy debt load
for years.
The company has been evaluating competing offers from Sprint
Nextel Corp. (S) and Dish Network Corp. (DISH) to acquire the
company. Sprint late last year agreed to buy the half of Clearwire
it doesn't already own in a $2.2 billion deal, but Dish soon after
made an unsolicited offer for the wireless broadband carrier. No
additional details about the review process were given in the
latest earnings report.
For the latest quarter, Clearwire reported a loss of $187.2
million, compared with a year-earlier loss of $236.8 million. On a
per-share basis, earnings were down at 29 cents from 81 cents, as
the number of shares outstanding jumped sharply.
Revenue fell 14% to $311.2 million, driven by a 29% drop in
wholesale revenue to $116.6 million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting a loss of 27
cents a share on revenue of $314 million.
The company ended 2012 with 9.6 million subscribers, down 8%
from 10.4 million a year earlier. The vast majority of Clearwire's
subscribers are wholesale customers and consist mostly of Sprint's
3G/4G smartphone customers. The declines in wholesale revenue and
subscribers stemmed from the discontinuation of postpaid WiMAX
offerings from Sprint, as the carrier rolls out 4G LTE.
Retail churn, or customer turnover, was 5% in the latest
quarter, up from 3.9% in the year-earlier period.
Class A shares closed Tuesday at $3.18 and were unchanged after
hours. Through the close, the stock was up 96% in the past six
months.
Write to Kristin Jones at kristin.jones@dowjones.com
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