Sprint posts best customer gains in five years

The decision to move to WiMAX instead of LTE will probably be second-guessed by pundits and investors for years to come, but regardless, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has emerged as one of the wireless industry's great comeback kids now that he appears to be succeeding in his goal of turning the carrier's tailspin right around. The latest victory comes in the form of Sprint's fourth quarter 2010 results, which reveal its largest subscriber gain since the first and second quarters of 2006 -- yes, 2006. Total adds were 1.1 million, though net postpaid adds were only 58,000, suggesting that prepaid services are the big push right now. Additionally, Sprint reported its lowest postpaid customer churn in the fourth quarter of any year in its history at 1.86 percent. On the downside, the company's still technically in the red, reporting an operating loss of $139 million on revenues of $8.3 billion. Overall, Hesse says they've got "momentum" heading into the new year, anticipating net customer additions in 2011. Give us an EVO 4G 2, Dan, and we might just be willing to agree.