Sprint slashes 2,500 jobs as cost-cutting measures continue

Sprint (NYSE:S) has slashed 2,500 jobs in a third round of layoffs as it continues to trim its budget. The jobs, which represent roughly 7 percent of its workforce, will primarily be lost from closing call centers, according to a Reuters report.

Employees were informed of the layoffs via e-mail, Reuters reported, and Jan. 30 is the deadline to qualify for better severance terms.

Sprint is hoping to cut as much as $2.5 billion from its budget in an effort to regain its financial footing. The smallest of the nation's major carriers has laid off 829 employees at its Overland Park, Kansas headquarters during the past three months. It isn't clear how many of the job losses at headquarters are included in the latest round.

Sprint is scheduled to release its quarterly results tomorrow morning, and the carrier will likely provide details on its plans then. The company had been expected to announce earnings next week, but instead it will announce earnings tomorrow -- likely as a way of calming investor fears.

Sprint made headlines ten days ago when word leaked that it had finalized plans of a "radical overhaul of its cellular network" that would see the company relocate its equipment to government-owned land. The carrier is planning to transition largely to small cells, according to reports, and will use microwave technology for backhaul rather than using fiber-optic cables owned by Verizon and AT&T.

Sprint has yet to confirm reports of a major network transition, but is likely to address them to some extent during tomorrow's earnings call.

For more:
- see this Reuters report
- read this Bloomberg article

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