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Sprint to Outsource Everyone

(20 Nov 2008, BWCS Staff)

Hard-pressed US mobile operator, Sprint Nextel, is said to be considering outsourcing thousands of jobs in a bid to cut costs. The process, commonly known as "re-badging", would see swathes of the company's employees switched to the payroll of Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent or IBM as Sprint hands over responsibility for the running of its phone network and IT systems to different companies.

Sprint, which lost 1.3 million mobile subscribers in the third quarter of this year, has said it will move cautiously as it tries to get back on an even keel. The company is keen to balance its need to cut costs with the importance of maintaining the reliability of its networks. The final decision on job cuts and re-badging will not be taken until after the fourth quarter results are out. Sprint has already embarked on a voluntary redundancy scheme for some of its employees.

Some analysts believe that the mobile operator could outsource between 5,000 and 10,000 positions at the company. Ericsson and Alcatel Lucent are said to be the main bidders for a contract to fully outsource the running of the company's networks, while IBM is said to be in line to take over its IT systems.

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