Telecommunications firm Leap Wireless revealed that it lost 196,000 clients last quarter with the news of its merger with AT&T. This was according to a report published by Android Community.

Leap Wireless operated under the Cricket brand. It was anticipating a merger with the telecom giant after approval from the Department of Justice and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulators. Leap said its handset financing and automatic bill payment services helped stave off customer dropout, but not enough for those who left in favor of another company, the report stated.

In addition to the loss of subscribers, Leap also posted a net loss amounting to USD185.4 million. It had no earnings call, as it was poised for a merger or buyout, said the report.

Recently, Leap posted a 53% increase in its smartphone sales for the third quarter.  Of the devices that it sold, 78% were smartphones. The telecom company also noted that 61% of its voice customers were not using smartphones, as opposed to last year's 48%, Andoid Community reported.