TOKYO, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Japanese telecoms conglomerate SoftBank Corp reported on Thursday its quarterly operating profit rose 8 percent and declared it was seeing "the light at the end of the tunnel" for its loss-making U.S. unit Sprint Corp.
SoftBank, which launched a takeover of the U.S. carrier for more than $20 billion in 2012, said its April-June operating profit rose to 343.6 billion yen ($2.75 billion) from 319.4 billion yen a year ago.
Sprint has struggled to compete against larger rivals AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc even while it burns through cash trying to acquire and retain customers. But in a sign of possible improvement, Sprint on Tuesday reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and lower churn, or defections. ($1 = 124.7600 yen) (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)