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Hesse to take helm at Sprint
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Sprint Nextel has tapped Dan Hesse to be its new president and CEO, replacing Gary Forsee who stepped down from the helm in October.
Hesse, who has been chairman, president and CEO of Embarq since its inception in 2006, is no stranger to the wireless industry. He spent 23 years at AT&T, including serving as president and CEO of AT&T Wireless Services from 1997 to 2000. During that time, he is credited for convincing senior AT&T management to support AT&T Wireless' Digital One Rate plan. This plan was the first in the wireless industry to bundle roaming and long distance fees into a flat-rate airtime package for consumers. Digital One Rate was a huge marketing success. Other nationwide operators copied the Digital One Rate plan, which caused demand for wireless services to skyrocket.
Hesse will have his hands full turning Sprint around. The firm has struggled with its 2005 merger with Nextel and has been losing iDEN customers at an alarming rate. Also in question is the firm's WiMAX plans. Sprint's deal with Clearwire fell through and some see the WiMAX business case as being risky.
According to the Wall Street Journal, some of the Sprint board members are hoping that Hesse will consolidate the company's operations in Kansas City, which could potentially save the firm lots of money.ÂÂ
For more:
- see this press release
- see this WSJ article, for more details. (sub req.)ÂÂ
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Comments
Posted by Anonymous | December 18, 2007 - 4:03pm
All true except that Andy Sukawaty's Sprint PCS team (Dave McGlade, Doug Garland, Dave Stevens, Chip Graves and Tom Ellsworth) introduced the all-encompassing rate plan dubbed "Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere" in The SF Bay area. AT&T reacted and was the first to launch nationally, doing so with strong marketing: "50 States - One Rate" and the red white and blue Nokia phone. As Dan is now leading the company that really invented the plan, things have come full circle. The industry needs him to lead a big comeback at Sprint.
Posted by Sue Marek | December 18, 2007 - 4:50pm
thanks for the note. I was reporting on the wireless industry back when Hesse was at AT&T Wireless. I think he's going to have to come up with something as revolutionary as the Digital One Rate to get Sprint back on track.
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