Kansas City, Mo. ? Sprint Corp. reported earnings Monday of nearly $1.7 billion during the first quarter, but failed to meet analysts’ expectations.

Sprint FON, the Overland Park-based firm’s wireline division, reported earnings of $1.85 billion, or $2.06 per share during the quarter that ended March 31, up from $286 million, or 32 cents per share, during the same period a year earlier. Sprint FON reported operating revenues of $3.58 billion, down from $3.9 billion the year before.

Excluding one-time charges, which included the proceeds from the $2.2 billion sale of the company’s directory-publishing business, Sprint FON made 34 cents per share, slightly less than the consensus estimate of 35 cents per share expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call.

The company’s wireless division, Sprint PCS, recorded a loss of $182 million, or 18 cents per share, during the first quarter, compared with a loss of $146 million, or 15 cents per share, in 2002.

Excluding one-time charges, PCS lost 16 cents per share. Analysts had predicted a loss of 13 cents per share.

Sprint PCS reported revenues of $2.95 billion, up from $2.84 billion in the first quarter of 2002. Sprint PCS’ “churn” rate, or customer turnover, improved to 3.1 percent.

Gary Forsee, Sprint’s chief executive officer, said that the company faced “a sluggish economy and heightened competition” during the quarter.

“In this challenging environment, each of our businesses performed admirably,” Forsee said.

Results were released after the market closed Monday. Shares of Sprint FON closed up 22 cents at $11.27 on the New York Stock Exchange, but dropped 63 cents to $10.64 in after-hours trading. Shares of PCS closed down 2 cents at $4.46, then dropped an additional 34 cents to $4.12 in after-hours trading.

David Willis, a telecom analyst with the Meta Group, said the results were “really disappointing.”

“It just illustrates how difficult it is to be a telco now. There’s too many companies in the market,” Willis said.

One bright spot was that Sprint said it reduced its debt by $1.6 billion during the quarter to $19.1 billion.