Interim Sprint Chief Aims to Refocus Brand

Last week's abrupt departure of Sprint's CEO capped the third-place company's struggles with its 2005 acquisition of Nextel, declining share price, and massive customer losses. Interim chief Paul Saleh tells the Washington Post he has a plan to get back to basics that he says will include rallying his workforce and focusing on doing fewer things, but doing them very well.

Saleh says Sprint was "doing too many things to reach too many customers too quickly." Indeed, Sprint's plans to invest $5 billion in building a high-speed wireless network using untested technology, its glitzy new phones, and its widespread dropped calls were widely derided. "If we get some of the basics right, focus on the customer, we really can get back to our rightful position as a leader," says Saleh. (More Sprint Nextel stories.)