Is Sprint Nextel about to lose another 500,000 customers?

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) seems to be clinging to life as it leeches wireless customers to the competition and desperately tries to get employees to take buyout clauses. Since the company can't find a soul to buy its Nextel national U.S. wireless network, it must nevertheless stop owning and operating that network where affiliate iPCS has its wireless territory.

Perhaps Sprint can just turn off the Nextel wireless network in those areas and have a wireless parts garage sale? It won't be able to get rid of that network infrastructure to make at least a little money. Who would want it? Answer: nobody. A court found this week that Sprint is already in violation of its agreement with iPCS and must shut down its Nextel network in iPCS's territories, so there is nothing Sprint Nextel can do, except get the blowtorches and dumptrucks ready.

The problem for Sprint, however, is not equipment mothballing. It has 500,000 Nextel subscribers in iPCS territory. What does it do with them? If the company has to shave half a million subscribers, that would be disastrous to a wireless company already losing hundreds of thousands of customers per year. Look for Sprint to settle with iPCS before the end of 2008 by whatever means possible. It can't afford to lose any more customers.