Sprint Nextel Corp. said the financial impact of Hurricane Katrina will be between $150 million and $200 million net of expected insurance recovery. The carrier said the estimates include capital and operating costs primarily associated with restoration of network infrastructure and retail operations, along with billing relief for impacted customers.
Sprint Nextel claimed that more than 90 percent of its wireless network in Mississippi and more than 70 percent in Louisiana now are operational, though many sites in New Orleans are still under water and will take longer to restore. The company added that it is still working to restore wireline services in the area, noting long-distance and data-service customers along the Gulf Coast continue to experience outages.
Sprint Nextel expects the financial impact to occur over the final quarters of this year and be completed substantially by year-end. The carrier also said it has donated about $6.5 million in financial and in-kind charitable support to hurricane relief efforts.
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. parent company BellSouth Corp. reported last week initial hurricane-related damage estimates of between $400 million and $600 million. Regional wireless operator Cellular South put its initial restoration costs at between $8 million and $12 million.
