It had seen heavy defections of postpaid subscribers throughout much of 2007.

The company added more postpaid subscribers than all of its competitors last quarter.

This was the company's first ever quarterly profit as revenue was boosted by postpaid subscribers and handset sales.

Everything else looked solid, Clement said, referring to high-value postpaid subscribers who pay monthly bills and commit to long-term contracts.

Still, Sprint lost 228,000 postpaid subscribers in the quarter.

In May, it added 14,000 net postpaid subscribers.

Sprint said it had churn, or turnover, on postpaid subscribers of 1.85%-it sbestever rate.

In the second quarter ended Feb. 28, the company added about 65,000 postpaid subscribers to its core wireless business, it said.

The company also said it had lost 500,000 postpaid subscribers on a net basis even as rivals like T-Mobile were adding them.

In its most lucrative wireless segment, Rogers added 98,000 net postpaid subscribers, or 34 percent fewer than in the same quarter last year.

The company had net added 625,000 postpaid subscribers in the year-earlier quarter, marking its strongest postpaid growth in the first quarter in five years.

Postpaid subscribers, who sign multi-year contracts, typically pay more each month than prepaid customers.