Hasta La Gadget!

Sprint’s second quarter figures have arrived, showing that the company’s billion-dollar gamble on the iPhone isn’t working right now. While it sold 1.5 million Apple-branded handsets in the three month period (40 percent to new and postpaid customers), it recorded an operating loss of $629 million and a colossal net loss of $1.4 billion — compared to an operating loss of $255 million and a net loss of $863 million in the first quarter. Operating revenues of $8.8 billion improved on those in the first quarter by a single percent — mostly due to higher service fees from its wireless offerings. It’s also grown its cash reserves, up from $128 million last quarter to $267 million today, and can point to 442,000 postpaid and 141,000 new prepaid subscribers pushing the company’s customer base up to 56 million nationwide — mentioning that 60 percent of former Nextel users chose to remain with Sprint during the enforced change.

The figures reveal that Sprint’s eating around $782 million due to the shutdown of the Nextel platform and a further $184 million to end leases on antenna sites for the moribund network. It’s also having to take a hit of $204 million due to its investment into infrastructure partner Clearwire. It’s affirmed its $1 billion lending facility, contingent upon purchasing gear from Ericsson to help build its LTE network, which it aims to have installed in 12,000 sites by the end of the year. Of course, that purchase was prompted by the collapse of Philip Falcone’s doomed LightSquared project, which caused the Now Network to lose $66 million in cash and its childhood innocence when it comes to trusting other people.

Update: Big Yellow also mentioned that it has no plans to adopt a shared data plan to follow AT&T and Verizon.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Internet

Sprint’s iPhone gamble isn’t paying off as 2012 Q2 figures reveal $629 million operating loss originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jul 2012 07:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like Samsung is pretty busy with its Android portfolio and if you’re looking for a Samsung Android handset that will play nice with AT&T’s LTE network, here’s another you can add to the list. Spotted recently at the FCC is none other than the SGH-I547 which shows support for AT&T’s radios, along with WiFi, Bluetooth and NFC connectivity. The folks at Pocket Now also pulled the User Agent Profile for the device which revealed a WVGA display, indicating that we might be looking at a mid-ranged Android device. Unfortunately apart from the diagram above, photos of the SGH-I547 have yet to surface, which means that apart from its connectivity options, a possible screen size, its features, specs and design remain unknown. Either way we will be keeping our eyes peeled for more info, so be sure to stay tuned for more updates in the future!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: AT&T LTE capable Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 spotted at the FCC, AT&T rumored to be testing Galaxy Nexus with LTE,

LG has released its earnings statement for the Q2 2012 period, the claim of “turning a corner” in Q1 has just managed to hold up as it registered net profits of $138 million, up 46 percent from the same period last year. Revenues, while higher than Q1, were actually down from last year and blamed on declines in featurephone sales and slow sales of IT products. The mobile division also struggled after a strong Q1 and took an operating loss, however the positive takeaways are a rising percentage of smartphone shipments and plans to launch new LTE-connected models in North America (we’ve spotted the likely Spectrum 2 for Verizon already), Europe and Asia later this year. The good news for the home theater segment continued however, with an operating profit of more than double last year at $187.5 million despite slightly lower sales due to an increase in sales of premium products like its Cinema 3D HDTVs, which it expects to become the “top global seller” in the 3D segment. There’s more details in the press release after the break or PDF linked below if you need more numbers.

Continue reading LG Q2 2012 earnings show a loss on cellphones, but higher profits overall thanks to home theater

LG Q2 2012 earnings show a loss on cellphones, but higher profits overall thanks to home theater originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 00:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What do we know about Motorola’s Droid RAZR HD? It’s likely to arrive clad in a Kevlar body, run Ice Cream Sandwich and be quick off the blocks. Now we can possibly start looking forward to a release date for such a teasing device since it’s been passed fit for human consumption by the boys at the FCC. The test documents revealed it’s got CDMA and GSM radios, will slurp down Verizon’s LTE and pack an NFC chip — but alas, no hint of whether we should be waiting for a version with a bigger battery.

Filed under: Cellphones

Motorola Droid RAZR HD raises hopes during its brief encounter with the FCC? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jul 2012 09:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LTE continues to expand throughout the United States and in many countries around the world, but the UK is still waiting on Ofcom to give the go-ahead on the necessary spectrum auction to support the technology. The communications watchdog has this morning announced that the spectrum bidding will be pushed back slightly, from the end of this year to “early 2013.” The delay in the spectrum auction ultimately means consumers will be waiting even longer for LTE to hit the UK.

Ofcom says that carriers can begin submitting their applications, but the actual spectrum auction won’t take place until early next year. UK carriers will be bidding on two bands, 800Mhz and 2.6Ghz, although Everything Everywhere is hoping to leverage its existing 1800Mhz spectrum and push out a limited LTE service before the end of the year. Still, spectrum is a limited resource, and Everything Everywhere’s 1800Mhz band isn’t the most desirable for a wide spread and speedy service.

In addition, Ofcom says that a set of spectrum will be set aside for a fourth wholesaler or carrier to prevent the big three in the UK from dominating the market. The organization briefly mentions Hutchinson 3G, who have been vocal in the past regarding Ofcom’s plans. Once everything is auctioned off, carriers will be held to an obligation that means any mobile broadband offered on the 800Mhz band should be available to 98% of the UK by 2017, with the crucial point being that reception is available indoors. The 800Mhz band is best suited for that purpose, while the 2.6Ghz band will open up faster speeds.

[via The Next Web]

Ofcom delays UK LTE spectrum auction to “early 2013″ is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
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