Sprint Bets Farm on iPhone, Comes Up Short on Green

Posted 10/27/2011 at 7:31am | by Paul Lilly

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Sprint didn't just sell its soul when it inked a long-term agreement with Apple to carry the iPhone, it sold out its investors who were kept in the dark as to how much Sprint was spending on the deal. Until now. Sprint ultimately got what it wanted and felt it needed in order to compete with Verizon and AT&T, and as a result, the third largest wireless operator in the U.S. said it might need $7 billion in financing over the next few years in order to upgrade its network to handle all those iPhone activations, Reuters reports.

This is in addition to the no less than $15.5 billion Sprint will fork over to Apple in the next four years to carry the iPhone, a figure that's likely to end up even higher depending on how many phones Sprint is able to sell. Is it worth it?

"The response to this device by current and new customers has surpassed initial expectations. The iPhone is expected to be accretive for Sprint, and iPhone users are expected to be among Sprint’s most profitable customers," Sprint said in its Q3 report.

The iPhone contract with Apple is an expensive one for Sprint, in which the wireless carrier has agreed to pay the Cupertino outfit a subsidy that's 40 percent higher, or $200 more per device, than it does for other phones, Reuters says. But as expensive as that is, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse says it's "worth every penny."