Peeling back the layers of the Sprint third quarter 2010 financial report, there’s a very positive story on the business side, in the enterprise-focused Business Markets Group. The BMG was a strong contributor to the most recent quarterly performance, thanks to healthy sales, new product and solutions introductions, and increased business demand for 4G handsets, thanks in part to the growing number of markets with 4G availability.
Among the notable sales successes was the Western States Contracting Alliance, a purchasing consortium consisting of 30 U.S. states, which extended its wireless services agreement with Sprint through 2012. Others, such as Carlson, the global hospitality company, we’ve talked about in previous posts on 4G.
Announced during the third quarter was the first Motorola mobile enterprise handheld device, the ES400S, to be branded, stocked, and sold by a wireless carrier. Also the first Android-powered, military specifications handset with push-to-talk capabilities, the Motorola i1, aimed at the construction and transportation industries. Another positive contribution was the launch of Customized Connections, a smaller-business-focused combination of 4G service with high-value data plans.
A couple of other positive trends are driving BMG’s performance as well. Customer service continues to improve, with Sprint marking its 11th straight quarter with improvement both in overall customer satisfaction and the ability to resolve problems on the customer’s first call. In addition, Sprint’s billing accuracy rating reached its best-ever level. Recognition by third party organizations was a plus, too. Winning top honors in the Nemertes PilotHouse awards for MPLS services and from ATLANTIC-ACM for business connectivity and wireless business excellence validates the efforts Sprint is making across the entire network and product landscape.
As Paget Alves, BMG president, noted, “In the third quarter, Sprint continued to execute well in the business market, earn new customers across all business segments, deliver exceptional service, and attract the attention and accolades of outside experts. We continued to gain traction with the best solutions, value and network in the business.”
