Sprint Nextel Defends Cutting Customers
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Sprint Nextel Corp. isn't apologizing for its decision to ax customers it determined were calling customer service too often.
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Reports that Sprint Corp. may be close to a $36 billion takeover of Nextel Communications Inc. yesterday alarmed consumer advocates, who predicted it would lead to less competition and higher prices for wireless service.
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The prospect of a deal between Sprint and Nextel Communications sparked concerns on Friday about a shrinking U.S. market for mobile network equipment, sending shares of Nextel's key supplier Motorola Inc.  down almost 8 percent.
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By Jason Gertzen, The Kansas City Star, Mo.  Jun. 8--On-the-go shoppers looking for the best price or a store stocking a hard-to-find product now can tap on their Sprint phones for tips.   Sprint Nextel Corp.
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OVERLAND PARK, Kan.  - For Sprint, "winning" is a relative term. After a string of dismal quarters, Wall Street would be happy if CEO Dan Hesse could just stop Sprint's bleeding. But Hesse is preparing for war against his telecom rivals, with an arsenal packed with "nukes" - Hesse-speak for anything that has the potential to disrupt the status quo in wireless. One possibility under consideration: flat-rate pricing for unlimited voice calls.
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Sprint Nextel Corp. unveiled on Thursday a new service that allows mobile handset customers to buy and compare a wide range of products over their phone.
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Sprint Nextel launched a "whyPhone" campaign to remind customers of the virtues of Sprint wireless devices while questioning the Apple iPhone.
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New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse has lots of choices as he&#160;takes over the ailing mobile carrier&#160;and looks for problems to start solving.Sprint, the third-biggest wireless operator in the U.S., is&#160;losing subscribers as it keeps working through the merger of Sprint and Nextel, which occurred in 2005. On Tuesday,&#160;Sprint announced Hesse is taking over immediately for Gary Forsee, who was forced out by the company&#39;s board in October. Hesse, 54, previously led Embarq, the local wireless carrier Sprint spun off as part of the Nextel deal.Sprint needs to both distinguish itself from competitors and get its own house in order, according to mobile industry analysts.&quot;They couldn&#39;t go on without someone who&#39;s willing to set a direction,&quot; said Avi Greengart of Current Analysis. Sprint could try to compete with Verizon Wireless and AT&amp;T Wireless on price, or with more flexible terms of service, or bring out more innovative devices, but it&#39;s failed so far to choose, according to Greengart.&quot;Their brand right now doesn&#39;t stand for anything,&quot; he said.One thing the Sprint name has been associated with recently is disappointing customer service. Reporting on the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company blamed accelerating customer &quot;churn&quot; to other carriers in part on longer help calls and waits for those calls. The introduction of simplified bills, expected to continue until the middle of 2008, boosted the number of those calls, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Sprint also noted new handsets at rival carriers, clearly a reference to AT&amp;T&#39;s Apple iPhone.Meanwhile, thanks to about 700,000 subscribers quitting the aging Nextel network, Sprint&#39;s subscriber base as a whole declined by a net 337,000 in the quarter. The carrier said it had about 54 million subscribers on Sept. 30.What could most set Sprint apart is also its biggest gamble, the WiMax wireless broadband network it plans to build across the U.S. at an estimated cost of US$5 billion. Though the WiMax network is likely to be in place first, set to reach 100 million people by the end of 2008, Sprint&#39;s main rivals plan to have their own high-speed data offerings using a similar technology, LTE (Long-Term Evolution). And WiMax won&#39;t fix Sprint&#39;s long-overdue need to harmonize its cellular operations, currently split between CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) and Nextel&#39;s older iDEN technology, Greengart said.If it goes ahead with WiMax -- interim CEO Paul Saleh said this month the business might be spun off -- Sprint will have to convince skeptical investors it&#39;s making the right move, said Yankee Group&#39;s Phil Marshall. It will also need to find a way for WiMax to truly complement the cellular business, Marshall said. So far, Sprint has painted WiMax as a mobile service distinguished from its conventional voice offerings by the promise of an any-application, any-device model. A better plan would be to push WiMax as an alternative to wired broadband that&#39;s bundled with Sprint&#39;s cellular service, Marshall said.However, in the short term, Hesse just needs to get the company to run its existing businesses better, Marshall said. Cleaning up customer service would be one key move, he added. Judging from Hesse&#39;s previous performance -- he once headed AT&amp;T Wireless -- the new CEO is qualified to do this, according to Marshall.&quot;He&#39;s very pragmatic and systematic in his management style,&quot; Marshall said.&#160;
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Sprint Nextel Corp., the nation's third-largest wireless provider, said Thursday it will have to write off a significant chunk of the remaining value of its 2005 purchase of Nextel Communications Inc. and several affiliates, reflecting the continued struggles of its wireless operations.
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You're not good enough for our 'best' service, soldiers Shortly after they returned home from the war in Iraq, Sprint accused 200 American soldiers of excessive roaming and summarily canceled their wireless service. At least, that's the word from one of these embattled national heroes.â¦
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In response to an increasingly difficult retail environment, Sprint Nextel says about 4,000 employees will be laid off and about one out of every eight retail stores will close.
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Sprint Nextel has agreed to provide departing customers with the code necessary to unlock their phonesâ software so the handsets they own can be used on competitorsâ networks.
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Sprint and Nextel Communications each have 15 retail stores in Colorado and both are known for offering a popular push-to-talk service, or walkie-talkie-like product that
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Sprint Nextel Corp  reported  deeper than expected subscriber losses on Friday and said it  would cut about 4,000 jobs, sending its shares down 26 percent  and raising fears that an economic slowdown would take a  greater toll on the wireless industry .
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Wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp  plans to lay off several thousand employees, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
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Sprint Corp., the telecommunications giant, said yesterday it will cut 700 jobs in its business solutions division as it stops selling business long distance services outside of package deals. The cuts represent 7.8 percent of the division's workforce.
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Sprint Nextel Corp.  expects to post first-quarter net losses of postpaid customers, who pay for calls in advance, but forecast postpaid net additions for the second quarter, Chief Financial Officer Paul Saleh said on Wednesday.