Sprint Nextel Corp. has reported operating income of $29 million for its first fiscal quarter. The company’s adjusted OIBDA [operating income before depreciation and amortization] of US$1.5 billion was the highest in nearly four years.

Sprint (www.sprint.com) reported smartphone sales of five million. Of that number, 1.5 were iPhones with 43% being sold to new Sprint customers. Eighty-six percent of quarterly Sprint platform postpaid handset sales were smartphones.

“This is a transformative year for Sprint and we’ve gotten off to a good start,” says CEO Dan Hesse. “Record Sprint platform service revenue and subscriber levels fueled our performance.”