Sprint's Q3 wireline revenues decline 12% year-over-year

Sprint (NYSE: S) on Thursday reported that Q3 2012 wireline revenues declined 12 percent year-over-year to $939 million.

The service provider attributes the decline to intercompany rate reduction based on current market prices for voice and IP services sold to the wireless segment in addition to lower voice, data and IP service volumes.

On a sequential basis, wireline revenues also dropped almost 6 percent, a factor also attributable to lower voice rates and volume and lower IP revenue.

Sprint's total wireline net operating expenses were $887 million in Q3 2012.

Ongoing declines in voice and IP volumes and improvements in SG&A expenses drove a 10 percent decline in net year-over-year operating expenses. Likewise, wireline net operating expenses decreased nearly 7 percent as a result of declines in cost of service.

One area in the wireline arena that Sprint will likely continue to be aggressive in developing will be Ethernet. In June, the service provider announced that it would extend the service to to 143 domestic and 38 international countries by the end of the year.

While Sprint isn't ruling out future elements for Ethernet like Ethernet Virtual Private Line (EVPL), the service provider is mainly offering Ethernet as a means to access its MPLS and Dedicated Internet Access (DIA) services.

From an overall financial perspective, Sprint's Q3 2012 net operating revenue rose year-over-year to $8.76 billion from $8.33 billion in Q3 2011. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S expected $8.8 billion.

Sprint's stock was listed at $5.51, down 0.01 or 0.18, in after-hours trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

For more:
- see the earnings release
- Reuters has this article

Special report: Wireline telecom earnings in the third quarter

Related articles:
Sprint sets aggressive domestic, international Ethernet expansion effort
Sprint's Q2 wireline revenues decline 9% to $1B
Sprint joins with CSC to take on IaaS market
Special access regulation only a first step, says NoChokePoints coalition