Sprint mulling outsourcing network maintenance, transferring staff to Ericsson?
by Chris Ziegler 
posted May 4th 2009 at 6:42AM
Word on the street is that Sprint is currently in heated discussions with Ericsson -- the world's largest network infrastructure company -- to take over management and maintenance of its vast back end along with somewhere between 5,000 to 7,000 of the carrier's employees in an effort to lower costs by about 20 percent as its subscriber counts and tends both stay soft. Interestingly, Sprint already sold some of its towers to TowerCo last year for over half a billion dollars, so it's not clear exactly how Ericsson fits into the puzzle yet -- but at any rate, Sprint would apparently be paying something on the order of $2 billion over the next several years for Ericsson to do its thing. In light of this, it's kind of ironic that Sprint doesn't sell a single Sony Ericsson handset, isn't it?
Filed under: Sprint
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Phone Guy @ May 4th 2009 7:14AM
That analogy is like announcing that American Airlines just outsourced jet engine maintenance to General Electric, but doesn't buy their light bulbs.
backbeat @ May 4th 2009 7:49AM
Hope this works out, may be another cost cutting effort that may catch on w/other carriers
yoyo @ May 4th 2009 10:42AM
It's actually quite popular over in Europe already.
anythingbutmine0 @ May 4th 2009 8:26AM
"Sprint already sold most of its towers to TowerCo last year"
For the 10th time, no, they did not. You keep pushing this falsehood instead of correcting your old article; a buttload of commenters have repeatedly pointed out to you that your original source was misinformed. Please stop pushing around false information, guys.
Sprint got an additional 20,000 towers just from the Nextel deal alone -- a relatively sparse network. Sprint only sold 3,000 towers to TowerCo. Do the math.
Chris Ziegler @ May 4th 2009 10:23AM
3,300, but yeah, you're right -- I've updated the post. Thanks for the correction.
Dramane @ May 18th 2009 9:16PM
Yeah Phone Guy, i agree with you. Remember that Ericsson and SonyEricsson are two different departments if not two different companies. One focuses on base Stations and Networking and the Other focuses on Phones and if i am not mistaking GSM phones....so Chris, please make comments that are relevant.
anythingbutmine0 @ May 4th 2009 8:30AM
Excellent point!
Not to mention the fact that Sony Ericcson doesn't make U.S. CDMA phones in the first place. So no, this is still not ironic.
celz @ May 4th 2009 4:27PM
good point back beat.. companies have to think outside the box.. my mom does it for kaiser hospitals they just outsourced like 700 positions to ibm, not hers tho.. and yea the whole sprint selling towers thing is old every u.s. carrier has sold towers.. and it makes sense car makers dont have to manufacture every single part even tho they could if they wanted.. some times smaller or specialty companies are more effecient..
Brian @ May 4th 2009 9:37AM
Wow. Mr. Ziegler is getting school'd by the internet.
I don't even have to type my corrections to the story... they've all been posted already.
rosewood @ May 4th 2009 10:13AM
My understanding from my family that works at the Sprint campus in OP is that this is basically a done deal. People have already been told they are going to the new company or being let go.
Achilles @ May 4th 2009 10:19AM
Not to mention that Sony Ericcson phones are crap...... Sprint did something right for a change. :)
jimmybean @ May 4th 2009 10:37AM
It's fits in because it's for tower maintenance Chris. The outsourcing does not imply transfer of ownership. It's basically sending a guy up to the tower to fix something - thats it.
WSJ has a very good article explaining what exactly outsourcing in this case means.
Dutch @ May 4th 2009 11:15AM
It isn't just about the guys who go up the towers, ti has to do with engineering upgrading etc. and the management of maintenance.
If you know anyone at sprint who works in one of the affected departments it is not just "the guy who goes up the poll." That is a fraction if the layoffs. Most are white collar engineers. It is the full management of Sprint's network that they are spinning off.
Brian @ May 4th 2009 12:26PM
This is a creative tactic by Sprint to lay-off employees without a direct announcement. Ship 7,000 employees to Ericcson, who can then evaluate who they need and dont need and cut the fat.
JSWinston @ May 4th 2009 12:35PM
Wow, it has to hurt when you write and article and every comment is corrections.
I especially don't understand the Sony Ericsson comment, there are a bunch of articles on this site about how Ericsson is only one of the two parent companys. They are seperate companys, is it really that hard to understand because of the name?
Chris Ziegler @ May 4th 2009 12:38PM
That's not a correction, it's a failure to understand a wee bit of dark humor. Of course Sony Ericsson is a separate company, of course Sony Ericsson doesn't make CDMA devices -- I was snickering at the fact that Ericsson's taking responsibility for a great deal of Sprint's back end hardware while its joint venture is failing to offer any hardware on the front end.
Lighten up.
Mr Maze @ May 4th 2009 3:27PM
I think you need to re-read the article because Chris makes this perfectly clear.
Shawn @ May 8th 2009 3:25PM
Chris Ziegler is awesome, as much as I am at this website on a daily basis you have to understand that the way they write is implying a joke relating the company "Ericsson" and "Sony Ericsson" they are two different companies, Sony Ericson makes phones, Ericsson does something else. It is correlating the names being similar in the companies and it is supposed to be "IRONY"....Chris...keep up the good reporting! I respect you; its just hilarious to listen to some people bitch and moan about one little detail, especially as much information you guys post in a single day details are bound to get mixed up a little ;)
absolutecell @ May 8th 2009 6:34PM
Sprint had the Sony Ericsson T608 back in the day, pre-merger. just another case of Engadget not doing their research
Chris Ziegler @ May 8th 2009 7:23PM
Does Sprint "sell a single Sony Ericsson handset"? No, they don't. I owned a T608.