Sprint Nextel Corp said on Thursday that Ericsson would manage its network as part of a seven-year deal worth $4.5 billion to $5 billion under which 6,000 Sprint workers would move to Ericsson. Sprint said that it would keep full control of its network after the deal, which it sees helping it improve its network performance more efficiently than it could on its own. Under the deal, Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service, will keep full ownership and control of its network assets and continue to make network investment and strategy decisions itself. As a result, it said it is retaining about 2,000 employees to work on network related issues.
