Sprint's first round of layoffs since Softbank acquired it come as customer complaints are down -- but so are subscribers.
With Softbank in, iDEN out, and customer care accolades up, Sprint says it will cut around 800 customer service jobs, primarily in Texas.
Sprint Corp. (NYSE: S) confirmed the layoffs to Bloomberg Tuesday. The company noted that customer complaints are down and satisfaction has increased, so fewer positions are required. (See Sprint Uses Amdocs Smart Agent.)
That is a part of the story, and a big part, as Sprint has worked hard for several years to improve its customer service. But the cuts also come as the US's third largest carrier just shut down its Nextel iDEN network, bleeding customers in the process. It lost more than 1 million monthly subscribers in the second quarter, so there are simply fewer to serve as well. (See Nextel Drags on Sprint as 4G Push Continues.)
Sprint began the layoffs last week, a third of which affected employees in Fort Worth, Irving, and Temple, Texas. A Sprint spokeswoman told Bloomberg the company would like to maintain a workforce of around 40,000 employees, and so no company-wide layoffs are expected.
It's also hiring as it looks to complete its Network Vision with help from new parent company SoftBank Corp. and integrate new subsidiary Clearwire's TDD LTE network. (See Sprint Completes Clearwire Acquisition and Sprint's LTE TDD Future to Boost Current Vendors.)
— Sarah Reedy, Senior Editor, Light Reading
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