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Sprint Nextel slows subscriber loss in 4th quarter

(AP) -- Sprint Nextel says its subscriber losses slowed in the fourth quarter, an encouraging sign for the wireless carrier that has lost millions of customers over the past few years.

Sprint says it lost a net 148,000 subscribers in the last three months of 2009, far less than the 545,000 who fled in the third quarter.

Sprint Nextel Corp. on Wednesday reported a quarterly loss of $980 million, or 34 cents per share, for the last three months of 2009. That compares with a loss of $1.62 billion, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue at the Overland Park, Kan., wireless carrier slipped 7 percent to $7.87 billion.

Analysts expected a loss of 19 cents per share on $8.0 billion in revenue. They likely excluded the effects of a noncash $306 million tax charge in their earnings estimates.