Sprint Nextel Corp. has shown an improvement in its first quarter profits. The level of figures for the company has far exceeded the level of expectations and saw a big increase in its customer numbers.

Sprint is into the business of phone services and is the third largest player in the US. It also reported a loss of 578,000 contract customers. Last year, the number of customers with it was 1.25 million.

This is less than analyst expectations who had predicted that the figure for drop will be 600,000.

Sprint has already lost close to $35 billion n the last three years. And to be able to win back it has started a service in the field on smartphones. It has also unveiled contact-free service plans.

The trouble started for the company because the wireless market touched saturation levels and so all the companies related to the sector began to feel the heat. Even AT&T and Verizon Wireless are facing the same fate.

So, looking at this, analysts say that while the companies are seeing an increase in their market share, the overall sector is shrinking. This is a dangerous situation, as per the market experts.