Embarq nears 90,000 wireless customers

Embarq Corp., the spinoff company encompassing Sprint Nextel Corp.’s wireline operations, continued to see a decline in access lines but added 18,000 new wireless subscribers during the quarter to reach a customer base of almost 90,000 subscribers.
The company reported that 81,000 of its customers are consumer and the other 8,000 are business subscribers. Embarq offers wireless service through Sprint Nextel’s CDMA network. Embarq also has 178,000 video subscribers, more than 1.15 million high speed Internet customers and around 7 million access lines.
Access lines were down 6% year-over-year, and the company’s consolidated net operating revenues were essentially flat at about $1.6 billion. Wireless is one of the company’s fastest-growing revenue segments, but still is small and generated only $11 million of its operating revenues. Embarq’s net income was up 10% sequentially to $176 million, but fell from the $216 million that it reported during the second quarter of last year.
The telco also reported that its operating income for the quarter included $20 million in “early lifestage dilution associated with the company’s wireless business.”