OVERLAND PARK, Kan.-Sprint Corp. said it expects to lay off up to 700 employees in its Sprint Business Solutions division as part of its plans to better align employee resources and capital investments with opportunities for growth and profitability. The telecommunications provider also said it will record a pre-tax non-cash impairment charge reducing the value of its long-distance network assets when it reports third-quarter financial results Oct. 19.
Sprint noted that the job cuts would be primarily in sales and support areas and would be achieved through attrition, voluntary separations and layoffs.
“We are accelerating our transformation by increasing our business efforts in three growth areas-multi-product bundles, IP and wireless solutions-while reducing sales efforts on standalone business services in the highly competitive long-distance industry,” said Howard Janzen, president of Sprint Business Solutions.
Sprint added that the decision to take the impairment charge followed an analysis of long-distance business trends and projections taking into account current industry and competitive conditions, recent regulatory rulings, evolving technologies and the company’s strategy to expand its position in telecom solutions.
“The marketplace has changed dramatically, and it is important that we seize the opportunities that our unique portfolio of wireless and wireline assets allows us to offer,” Janzen said.
Sprint said it will disclose the impairment charge when it releases its third-quarter results, and it expects to report in excess of 21 cents per share in adjusted earnings per share excluding one-time items.
