had announced that it would also take a $3.5 billion charge against earnings the day before Sprint's announcement. Expanding through new deals Looking for new ways to grow in a highly saturated telecom market, Sprint is making deals to let other companies lease its wireless network and then market their own products. Virgin Mobile has bought wholesale service from the company and Qwest resells Sprint service. Longstanding foe AT&T will begin to use Sprint's wireless network sometime in 2005 now that Cingular has closed its deal to buy AT&T Wireless. The service provider announced another major deal with sports network ESPN, which will begin offering its own ESPN-branded cell phone service using Sprint's network. The service, which is likely to offer sports fans features such as updates on game scores, is set to debut in 2005, probably in the latter part of the year. Teaming up has proved successful as it brought in 300,000 subscribers in the second quarter of 2004, nearly two-thirds of its total additions. In December 2004, Sprint and Nextel Communications tentatively agreed on key terms in a $35 billion merger that would create a shared network of 39 million subscribers, the third-largest cell phone operator behind Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless. Under the plan, Sprint CEO Forsee would be the new CEO of the combined company, with Nextel's CEO Timothy Donahue as the executive chairman. Corporate headquarters would be moved to Reston, Va., where Nextel is based, with operating headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas, where Sprint is based. Sprint shareholders would possess 51 percent of the combined company, which plans to Visit Vault at www.vault.com for insider company profiles, expert advice, VAULT CAREER career message boards, expert resume reviews, the Vault Job Board and more. LIBRARY Vault Guide to the Top Telecom Employers Sprint Corporation spin off Sprint's local telephone business. (Sprint provides local services to 39 states and the District of Columbia.) Sprint is also surfing the pipes of cable