US number three player Sprint said it had kicked off a “workforce reduction plan”, in order to cut costs and “help become more competitive in the marketplace”.

The company said the plan, which is due to be complete by the end of this month, includes “certain management and non-management positions”, although it did not put a number on the amount of jobs on the block.

It expects to record a charge of $160 million for severance and related costs.

Having been on the back-foot for some time, Sprint has recently come out fighting, revamping its tariffs in order to better compete with rivals such as T-Mobile US, which has shaken-up the market through its various ‘uncarrier’ initiatives.

It has also appointed a new CEO, Marcelo Claure, who said his focus is on “growing and repositioning Sprint” following a long period of speculation about its future as a stand-alone business.

Sprint was previously mooted as a partner for T-Mobile US, although the possibility of regulatory opposition to a deal that would have removed one of the market’s most aggressive players (T-Mobile) seemed to be enough to put an end to this.

Separately, it was also reported that Sprint has set a closure date of 6 November 2015 for the WiMAX network it owns following its acquisition of Clearwire.

The move is hardly surprising, considering the company’s shift to support LTE-family technology using the same spectrum.

According to Android Central, the company needs to notify WiMAX customers about its plan twelve months before the closure, and letters are scheduled to be sent this week.

It noted that dual-mode 3G/WiMAX devices will continue to work on the 3G network, and that comparable devices supporting its Spark service will be available at “no or low cost”.