Sprint Spending Woes Undercut Cisco Optimism

While Cisco (CSCO Quote) spent the day painting itself as a bright point in a dark telecom industry, Sprint (FON Quote) showed that any light at the end of this tunnel is still a ways off.

Sprint warned analysts and investors Tuesday that sales and earnings would fall below current expectations. Moreover, the company said it would take its problems out on its already hard-hit suppliers by slashing next year's capital spending plan by $500 million, to $3.5 billion.

Capital Spending Budgets of the Top-Six Phone Companies (in billions)
Company	2002	2001	% change	$ change
Verizon (VZ:NYSE)	$14*	$17.5	20%	$3.5
SBC (SBC:NYSE)	9.6	12	20	2.4
AT&T (T:NYSE)	11	14	21	3
Qwest (Q:NYSE)	5.5	8.5	35	3
WorldCom (WCOM:Nasdaq)	5.8	7.5	23	1.7
BellSouth (BLS:NYSE)	4.6*	5.7	20	1.1
Sprint (FON:NYSE)	3.5	5.4	35	1.9
Total	$54	$70.6	23.5%	$16.6
Source: Companies *Assuming 20% minimum cuts

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