Sprint cuts 800 customer-service jobs after Nextel shutdown

(c) 2013, Bloomberg News.

NEW YORK — Sprint Corp., the third-largest U.S. wireless carrier, said it will cut about 800 customer-service jobs, the largest employee reduction since SoftBank Corp. acquired a controlling stake in the company last month.

Customer complaints have decreased, and satisfaction levels are higher, requiring fewer positions, Sprint said. There are also fewer users to serve. The company shut down its Nextel network in June as part of a plan to revamp its technology, contributing to a loss of 1.05 million monthly subscribers in the second quarter.

The firings are "organizational adjustments being made to meet the changing needs of our business," Jennifer Schuler, a spokeswoman for Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint, said in an email. Sprint started notifying most of the affected employees last week. About a third of the workers — 284 employees — are based in the Texas cities of Fort Worth, Irving and Temple, according to a letter to the state's workforce commission.

Sprint plans to keep its total workforce steady at about 40,000, Schuler said. "Sprint continues to hire new employees into positions that support our corporate strategy," she said.

SoftBank, based in Tokyo, completed its $21.6 billion takeover of the company last month.

Sprint fell 2.3 percent to $6.75 at the close in New York. The shares have jumped 22 percent this year.

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Schlangenstein reported from Dallas.

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