Sprint merges consumer and enterprise marketing, loses four execs

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) will merge its consumer and enterprise sales and marketing divisions and will lose four executives as part of a corporate reshuffling aimed at streamlining the carrier's operations as it works to finance its network upgrade and iPhone launch. The changes were announced by Sprint CEO Dan Hesse in a memo to employees that was first reported by Reuters late Friday. As part of the overhaul, Paget Alves, currently Sprint's president of business markets, will now also head Sprint's consumer sales as its chief sales officer. Bill Malloy will lead Sprint's marketing for both consumer and enterprise markets. "As the wireless market has evolved, the lines between consumers and businesses have blurred," Hesse wrote in the memo. "We believe that we no longer need to support two separate business units (consumer and business), and that it is more logical now to evolve to unified marketing and sales organizations." As part of the overhaul, Danny Bowman, the president of Sprint's machine-to-machine business unit, will leave the company, and Matt Carter, currently head of Sprint's wholesale business, will take over the carrier's M2M portfolio. Additionally, Robert H. Johnson, head of Sprint's consumer business, John Carney, head of consumer marketing, and Chris Rogers, a Sprint executive who worked on corporate development and spectrum, will all leave Sprint. Reuters reported that there will be more organizational changes at Sprint in the coming weeks, but also noted that the corporate restructuring is not part of a round of major layoffs. The changes come as Sprint embarks on not only its first full quarter selling Apple's (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone, but also as it implements its Network Vision network modernization en route to 10 LTE market launches by mid-year. Both are multi-billion-dollar commitments by Sprint that will make or break the company in the coming years. "Because of the enormous investments we're making this year in Network Vision and in the iPhone, we need to consistently be looking for ways to be more efficient," Hesse wrote.