Sprint Nextel's Hesse sees more headcount reduction in 2009

Sprint Nextel Corp.'s (NYSE: S) may be slicing further into its worker ranks this year, according to company CEO Dan Hesse. Hesse, who came to the top job just over a year ago, has managed to remake Sprint's marketing and has somewhat stemmed the customer defections from Sprint, although the company continues to lose customers every quarter. Still, Hesse has done many things right to get Sprint under control. He's just not completely there yet. Reducing headcount to save expenses has also been a priority for Hesse.

About a week ago, Hesse indicated that "from a profitability point of view, job one has to be about doing something about the top line and subscriber numbers ... we can take costs out and we will continue to do that, just like we did last year ... we will do more of that in 2009." In other words, look for more Sprint Nextel layoffs to be announced probably in the first quarter or in the second. The company let 4,000 workers go in 2008.

Sprint has a lot going for it. It's going to be the sole carrier for the new Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Pre, which is being touted as the first serious competitor to Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone. The company's marketing is what I would consider first-rate and edgy -- and full of energy. It's just not gaining customers, and a recent competitive merger won't make things much easier. It has apparently improved its customer service though, which is a great sign. Now, if it could just sign up those customers by the hundreds of thousands.