Sprint development exec Packingham to leave

NEW YORK, USA: Sprint Nextel, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider, said on Thursday that a top technology development executive, Kevin Packingham, was leaving the company to take another job.

Packingham, senior vice president for product development, is the second key executive to leave Sprint in as many months. Last month Dan Schulman, Sprint's head of prepaid services, said he was leaving for American Express.

Sprint, which has been working for years to stem customer losses, said Packingham, 39, would leave Aug. 16 to take a job as chief executive of a new Kansas City area venture. He had worked at Sprint since 1999.

Spokeswoman Cristi Allen declined to name Packingham's next employer, but said it was not a competitor to Sprint.

Packingham played a key role in developing mobile data services such as wireless email and was instrumental in the launch of the company's most advanced smartphones.