Sprint PCS has announced that it is axing 4000 jobs and 120 stores as customers sprint away from its offerings:
Industry analysts had estimated that in the fourth quarter Sprint lost about 350,000 contract subscribers — a carrier’s most valuable customers, signed up for contracts of a year or more. Instead, Sprint announced that it had a net loss of 638,000 contract customers.
From my perspective Sprint has boxed itself into a corner with it’s PCS network. As I have stated before, closed systems (non GSM) have started it’s long path to oblivion. I know many years ago a decision had to be made as to what technology to use, but they have made the wrong choice, especially in the face of another CDMA alternative Verizon. More importantly, the choice of PCS network has limited their ability to attract the best phones such as the new iPhone as well as the best from Europe (which is all GSM). What are the odds that Sprint will announce a GSM network this year?
