Sprint completes network maintenance deal with Ericsson
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Jul 10th 2009 1:42AM
posted Jul 10th 2009 1:42AM
As rumored, Sprint has now announced that it's signed a blockbuster deal to outsource maintenance of its network to Ericsson. Spanning seven years and some $4.5 to $5 billion, the deal's actually so big that Sprint has come up with a catchy name to describe it -- "Network Advantage" -- with about 6,000 Sprint employees being transferred to a new Ericsson subsidiary headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas (conveniently close to Sprint's campus). In theory, the move won't have any noticeable effect on customers because everyone involved with the customer experience on Sprint's end (read: CS reps) will be retained by Sprint proper; Ericsson will simply be responsible for maintaining and provisioning the carrier's CDMA and iDEN infrastructure. The deal kicks off this quarter and will be renewable after the seven-year contract's up, so if you're on Sprint, you can definitely expect to feel progressively more Swedish as time goes on, probably ultimately culminating in the impulse purchase of a Saab.
Last rat off the sinking ship's a rotten egg!
My brother-in-law was a cell tower tech for Sprint before this deal began. Almost all of the techs in his area were laid-off or offered a one-year employment at Erickson. [At the end of the year they were guaranteed to be laid-off without the nice package.] I wonder how Erickson plans to keep the towers running well without the number of techs Sprint found necessary? I'd be a little skeptical were I to be a customer.