Sprint's Wireline Business Unit Growing Swiftly Since Recent Launch

**Editor’s Note: Click here for a list of May’s important channel-program changes you should know.**

Sprint has changed its direction with the channel since the recent formation of its Global Wireline Business Unit, focusing on fewer partners, and launching new programs to incent activity and growth.

That’s according to David Falter, vice president of global wireline sales and engineering, Sprint Partner Program. The wireline unit was announced last month and is focused on B2B, with customers ranging from Fortune 100, multinational corporations and large national accounts, to midmarket customers and the SMB space.

The unit has full profit-and-loss responsibility, including strategy, sales, marketing, product management, services engineering and operations. Sprint now has dedicated sales representatives and services engineers who sell, design, implement and support wireline services for business customers, partnering with Sprint wireless sales representatives to “ensure a fully integrated approach to communications needs for business customers.”

“The team is fully staffed and new compensation plans have been created in alignment with the business unit’s goals and objectives,” Falter said. “Meetings have been held with every assigned customer, focusing on migration from legacy, TDM-based products to Ethernet and IP/global MPLS solutions. Since forming the unit, growth in every aspect of the business has been accelerating in a positive direction.”

The Sprint Global IP/MPLS network is a core business platform that is the backbone for both wireless and wireline traffic. Sprint’s all-IP network provides the foundation for converged and cloud services. The majority of the largest customers have both Sprint wireline and wireless services.{ad}

“Sprint is also positioning the channel as a key partner in achieving our mutual goals and objectives,” Falter said. “The wireline product management and marketing organizations are now viewing the channel as an extension of our direct sales efforts in support of our strategic direction.”

Sprint’s goals this year for the wireline unit include continued growth in its expanding global IP/MPLS service portfolio, including workplace as a service, SIP trunking, toll-free over SIP, managed security and managed data services, UCaaS services, SD-WAN and other global services, he said.

“Sprint is also supporting the ever-increasing bandwidth demands of our customers by offering a wide variety of Ethernet access offerings across the United States and around the world, plus migration support from legacy TDM products and access to all Ethernet and IP services,” Falter said.