After a financially rough second quarter, Sprint's fortunes have improved somewhat over the past three months. The company recorded a net income of $383 million in Q3 2013, though operationally it's still not in the black, with a $398 million operating loss. The odd numbers are explained by Sprint recording a one-time $1.45 billion gain related to its Clearwire dealings.

The nation's third-largest carrier sold nearly 1.4 million iPhones over the reported period, with 40 percent of them going to new customers. The all-important Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) metric reached a record for postpaid Sprint customers, however the bad news is that Sprint now has 360,000 fewer of those than when the quarter began.

Ahead of today's numbers, Sprint turned on LTE connectivity in 45 new markets, while noting that it now has 4G coverage in parts of Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, to go with the service it's already offering in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Though less specific, Spring's 3G service is also seeing "a major expansion" in terms of its signal strength, coverage, and call quality.