Monday, January 23, 2006

Sprint news

The Kansas City Biz Journal is reporting that the Sprint spinoff has decided on a name -- but that name will remain secret. This will be a classic case of branding 101 - so watch carefully what they do, as the Local division is relinquishing a well-known brand name, Sprint. "The spinoff, which was expected to close 2005 with about $6.8 billion in revenue, has used the place-holder name New Local Company internally since announcing the spinoff in December 2004. Customers have continued to be presented with the classic red diamond logo of Sprint in the local territories despite Sprint Nextel's adoption of a new yellow-and-black logo in September for its wireless service... The local division has been selling local phone service with the Sprint name in 18 states since 1992. Before that, it was known as United Telecom for two decades." The new COO has plans for a big advertising campaign. Its aim? "Hesse plans to position the new brand with an aggressive marketing campaign that includes opening 60 new retail stores centered around immersing customers in a living-room experience with high-speed Internet and satellite television products....That's because local phone companies no longer can survive selling basic service at regulated rates due to competition from cable companies, Internet-based phone options and wireless replacement.The spinoff plans to sell a bundle of local and long-distance phone service, DSL, satellite television and wireless phone service." In other news, Sprint Nextel Corp. discontinued offering pension benefits to its employees Jan. 1, a spokesman said Friday.

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