Sprint Shutters Stores and Lays Off Employees in Effort to Stem Losses

In a bid to restore profitability, Sprint is laying off workers and closing repair centers and stores. That includes 330 technical consultants, 15 service and repair centers, and 55 “worst-performing” retail locations, which are in addition to the 450 customers service employees Sprint let go earlier this week.

Sprint is couching the slimming of staff as a way to “improve efficiency,” but the move seems mainly in response to the company’s $1 billion loss in the fourth quarter of last year. Under the ownership of Japanese carrier SoftBank, Sprint has seen revenues decline as competitors have encroached on its prepaid markets and rapidly outpaced its deployment of 4G LTE.  

The lack of device repair centers may inconvenience some; Sprint said it will refer customers with broken phones to staffed stores within a 45-minute drive. However, the company said it’s aiming to keep the consumer impact to the cuts minimal.

Via: CNET