Sprint Slashes Jobs Post SoftBank Acquisition

Sprint is cutting 800 customer-service jobs, but it might not be for the reason you’d expect, the company said.

America’s third-largest wireless operator, which sold more than two-thirds of its company to Japan-owned SoftBank earlier this summer, says it doesn’t need all of the customer-care positions because there are fewer complaints, Bloomberg reported. Its customers are simply more satisfied, Sprint said.

The other side of the coin, however, is that there are fewer customers to complain. Sprint shut down its 2G Nextel network two months ago, which resulted in a loss of more than 1 million monthly subscribers in Q2 2012.

In a statement to the financial news site, a Sprint spokesperson officially chalked up the layoffs to organizational adjustments being made to meet the changing needs of our business. Most of the workers who are impacted have been notified. About half of them are in the Dallas area.

Sprint is hiring more staff and plans to keep its total workforce at about 40,000.

Follow senior online managing editor @Craig_Galbraith on Twitter.