Sprint (S) appointed a new CEO today. He seems to be perfect for the job. The new man, Dan Hesse, comes from the top spot at Embarq (EQ) and used to work at Sprint. He won’t need any time to learn the ropes.

But, the stock is barely up on the news.

Sprint’s problems can’t be fixed in a quarter. It may take a year or two years. It may be that they can’t be fixed at all. That is a depressing comment to make about a company, but some issues become so malignant that they are beyond curing.

Many of Sprint’s customers don’t like the company. It has to maintain two networks. One is for the Nextel customers which the company picked up in the merger. The other is the old Sprint network. The company is thinking about building a third system of fourth generation WiMax high speed wireless. Putting that together is probably a $5 billion investment which will take two years or more.

In the meantime, Sprint is up against AT&T (T) Wireless and Verizon Wireless which is owned by Verizon (VZ) and Vodafone (VOD). Each of the larger companies is adding new customers. Sprint is not. To many people leave Sprint each quarter. There is no reason for the competition to help them with that problem.

Sprint hired the right guy, but he has a very tall mountain to climb in a very short period of time.

Douglas A. McIntyre

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