NEW YORK (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider, said it would eliminate up to 8,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of its workforce, under a plan to cut labor costs.
Sprint's plan, which it hopes will shrink costs by about $1.2 billion a year, comes about one month after rival AT&T Inc said it would eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its staff.
Sprint will take a charge of more than $300 million in the first quarter for severance and related costs associated with the reduction.
In addition, Sprint said it would suspend paying 401(k) retirement matching funds.
(Reporting by Franklin Paul; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
