Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S)'s Dan Hesse hasn't been the CEO for very long, but he's wasting no time making a bunch of changes at the beleaguered wireless company. First off, he announced a slew of layoffs and three executive dismissals as a way to cut costs and bring in fresh blood to the company.One of the last straws Hesse needed to address concerned the company's 2006 commitment to rolling out a nationwide WiMAX next-generation wireless data network in the U.S.
At the time, Sprint was seen as a pioneer in bringing anywhere, anytime high-speed data to most of the U.S. with its $5 billion commitment. As 2007 brought customer defections and hundreds of thousands of customer losses and missed profit targets, those plans were scaled back -- some called for them to be scrapped entirely -- so Sprint could focus on its core business: wireless voice service.
Hesse is apparently not going to let the naysayers get away with having Sprint just toss out its grand WiMAX ambitions, and Sprint may now be in talks with Clearwire Corporation (NASDAQ: CLWR) to form a joint venture in a new WiMAX venture that would bring in outside money to help with the rather large capital expenditure that Sprint investors and pundits have been worried about in the wake of losing customers -- big time -- to its competitors. If Sprint can form a joint venture and bring in partners such as Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and retailer Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY), then its WiMAX plans may indeed have some life left.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-01-2008 @ 12:00AM
wimaxed said...
I think it's all about the speed of execution and I see Sprint it's doing just that with the Clearwire deal.
http://www.wimaxed.com
2-03-2008 @ 1:46AM
sugar cain said...
hopefully Univ of Mizzou will hurry up and hire Sprint's old top guy. The rest of the big 12 could
look forward to many victories over Mizzou. If Missouri fell into the ocean, surrounding states could have beach front properties. how much
market value has been lost under such leadership?
turned a strong company into a dog.