Can Hesse stop the bleeding at Sprint?

Hesse’s challenge, Ho said, will be to balance doing basic work better with adding innovation.

“For those investors seeking external outside-the-industry candidates, Hesse is as close to an insider as they come,” he said. “However, my feeling is that Sprint is bleeding and needs someone who knows the business now without any long learning curve. Dan's challenge is obviously to right the ship and please both investors and improve morale that has been sinking over the last year. The question is to balance the fresh ideas that can make Sprint a relevant player and sticking to the 'meat and potatoes' of running the core business.”

A major decision looms as well: whether Sprint Nextel should proceed with its plans to roll out WiMAX technology in 2008 or spin off the Xohm unit.

“You have a 50-50 chance -- either way, you can fully rationalize the decision,” Entner said. “In my opinion, they are probably going to spin it off. But you can argue either way. The WiMAX decision is important, but it’s not urgent. Considering he is coming in now, there is a honeymoon period. So he has time to make that decision. Fixing the IDEN network is something he has to do right away.”