KANSAS CITY, MO. Sprint to lay off 2,000 workers to cut expenses

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Sprint Corp. will lay off 2,000 workers, or nearly 3 percent of its work force, by the end of the year as part of an effort to cut operating expenses over the next three years.
The job cuts will involve both Sprint's wireline and wireless divisions. The company employs about 70,000 people overall, including about 20,000 people in the Kansas City area.
About 20 percent of the jobs that will be cut are in the Kansas City area, company spokesman Mark Bonavia said Monday.
The cuts are part of the Overland Park, Kan., telecommunications firm's reorganization around two market segments: business and residential customers. The restructuring is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1.
Including the layoffs announced Monday, Sprint has cut more than 21,000 jobs in just over two years.
The company is organized according to products: local telephone services, long-distance voice and data services, and wireless.
Jeff Kagan, an independent industry analyst in Atlanta, said the layoffs announced Monday were different from previous job cuts.
"The last few years there have been unhealthy cuts because it was just a company shrinking to try to survive. Now we're seeing reorganizational-based cuts, and those are always healthy, because it shows a company's focusing on a growth opportunity," Kagan said.