Shares in Sprint Nextel fell by about 11 per cent after the third largest US mobile network operator reported continuing subscriber losses and a wider second-quarter net loss of $384m.

The results, which come the day after Sprint announced an agreement to pay $420m in stock for Virgin Mobile USA, one of the leading prepaid mobile service resellers, highlight the impact of the loss in valuable monthly contract subscribers which were not fully offset by gains in the company’s Boost Mobile pre-paid service.