Going by The Wall Street Journal news, contributed by unnamed yet "in the know" sources, the careworn cell phone operator Sprint Nextel Corp is negotiating a deal with Telefon AB L. M. Ericsson, whereby the equipment vendor will manage Sprint's cellular network, and accommodate 5,000 to 7,000 of Sprint's US employees.

The proposed Sprint-Ericsson deal comes as a part of Sprint's cost-cutting measures to counterbalance its plunging subscriber numbers, due to stiff competition from market leaders AT&T and Verizon Wireless. The sources apprising WSJ of the proceedings underway said that the agreement would help Sprint slash its network costs by nearly 20 percent.

However, the deal would see Sprint pay as much as $2 billion to the Swedish Ericsson over several years, for its management and maintenance of Sprint's innumerable cell sites that carry its wireless voice and data traffic.

In case the contract - for which Alcatel Lucent and Nokia Siemens also bid - comes through, the Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint would be among the first US operators to resort to outsourcing; as most of the operators prefer to look after their daily network management themselves.

Under the deal, which awaits finalization and would involve some job-cuts, Sprint would keep hold of its ownership of the cell towers; thereby continuing shoulder the responsibility of all the companies' capital investments.