Sprint Nextel Corp., the No. 3 U.S. wireless service provider, said today it had a larger first-quarter deficit as revenue fell, it lost more than a million subscribers and it absorbed charges for severance and other costs.

Sprint said its total subscriber base fell by 1.09 million to 52.8 million, including the loss of 1.07 million post-paid customers who pay a monthly bill - actually smaller than the 1.2 million in post-paid losses the company had forecast last quarter.

The company reported a wider loss as customers defected to larger rivals and forecast only marginal improvements in the current quarter. Sprint reported a loss of $505 million, or 18 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31 compared with a loss of $211 million, or 7 per share, during the first quarter of last year.

Revenue fell 7.5 percent to $9.3 billion from $10.1 billion a year earlier.

During the first quarter, […]

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