Sprint Shakes Up, Expands Business Consulting Unit

Cellular-News writes that Sprint launched its Sprint Enterprise Mobility Inc. unit, "which is designed to advise large businesses and government agencies on how best to use wireless technology and actually implement and manage those systems." Sprint will now advise and "help companies set up the systems, managing them and sharing in the risks."

According to Bain & Co., "the managed services market for telecom service providers in 2008 will be worth $40 billion to $50 billion in the U.S. Consulting, however, is worth about 10% of that pie, so implementation and management of the system is a crucial revenue stream."

The new unit is stressing its independence from the parent and will be objective regarding competitor products. Roger Entner at Ovum said, "It'll be interesting how they work with the other carriers."

Entner noted that "while the advice is supposed to be unbiased, Sprint likely is hoping for a bigger piece of the pie in the long run." Entner also predicted that the other network operators probably wouldn't follow Sprint into the consulting business.