Sprint Nextel Corp., the third- largest US mobile-phone carrier, announced on Monday that it would hack up to 2,500 jobs or reduce its workforce by about 5 per cent.

Overland Park-based Sprint Nextel said that the reduction in the workforce would slash labor costs by at least $350 million a year.

Earlier, the company axed 8,000 jobs during the first six months of the year. Later, the company transferred its 6,000 workers to L. M. Ericsson, which is taking over the management of Sprint's network.

It may be noted here that Sprint recently posted a loss of $478 million for the third quarter of the year.

Moreover, the mobile-phone carrier suffered a fall of 545,000 net subscribers during the third quarter.

Sprint, which at present employs around 42,000 people, plans to take a charge of $60 million to $80 million in the running quarter for severance payments and other costs associated with the job cuts.