Sprint Nextel: Ambitiously Optimistic

Telecom News Editorials Reports Glossary

5:10 am on November 29, 2005 | Category: Business, Telecom Services

According to CEO-designate, Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel’s newly formed local telephone company will seek to attain new levels of aggressive innovation, while challenging the public’s view of wireline telephone services.

“In addition to providing competitively priced bundles of the services everyone expects – local, long-distance, wireless, broadband and video – we will team with strategic partners to develop new services,” said Hesse. “We intend to be aggressive, bold, and innovative.

He also commented that the company will give customers what they want at competitive prices, and pursue a growth-oriented business model. This new business model will involve expanding the number of retail stores from 26 to over 60 by the end of 2006, as well as expanding upon the company’s wholesale ventures.

“Our goals and our capabilities are significant,” Hesse was quoted as saying. “We will be the largest independent wireline company in the nation, and we will leverage our strengths, as well as those of our strategic partners, to break the mold of traditional wireline communications companies, both here in Fayetteville, across North Carolina and nationwide.”

Whether or not the Hesse’s ambitious optimism will pay off remains to be seen, but in reality, it seems quite unrealistic that a standard local phone company could successfully out-innovate the many wireless and VoIP companies that are capturing the market at such an astounding rate.

Of course, when it comes to business, a strong determination to innovate certainly isn’t a bad thing. The fact that Mr. Hesse can maintain such an attitude is in itself, something to be applauded.