(Telecompaper) Sprint raised its forecast for adjusted EBITDA this year after reporting a strong first quarter. The US mobile operator now expects a result of USD 6.7-6.9 billion in 2014, versus an earlier outlook of USD 6.5-6.7 billion. In Q1, adjusted EBITDA rose 22 percent year-on-year to USD 1.84 billion, while the net loss narrowed significantly to USD 177 million. The improvement was due to lower handset subsidies, as the company moved to installment payments, as well as lower customer care and service costs. Revenues increased marginally, to USD 8.88 billion from USD 8.79 billion a year ago, due to weaker wireline revenues and the shutdown of the Nextel network. In the first three months of the year, Sprint lost a net 467,000 customers, including 333,000 postpaid and 415,000 prepaid. It blamed the losses on service disruptions due to its ongoing network upgrade as well as changes to the Lifeline programme. Only the wholesale base grew, by 281,000 customers. In total, the operator had 55.887 million customers at the end of March, down from 55.211 million a year ago. Retail ARPU fell both in prepaid and postpaid compared to the fourth quarter, to USD 62.98 per postpaid customer and USD 27.07 in prepaid.