The No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider on Wednesday posted a loss of $863 million, or 29 cents per share, compared with a loss of $439 million, or 15 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Revenue rose 5 percent to $8.7 billion from $8.3 billion and was in line with Wall Street estimates of $8.7 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company said its Sprint network added 263,000 net subscribers in the quarter but it lost 455,000 customers on its Nextel iDen network, which it plans to shut down next year.

Sprint said it expects 2012 adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization to be at the high end of its previously announced forecast of between $3.7 billion and $3.9 billion. It forecast full-year net service revenue growth of 4 percent to 6 percent and said full-year capital expenditures would be about $6 billion.

Its shares rose 5 percent to $2.60 in premarket trading after closing at $2.47 on New York Stock Exchange.