Wireless carrier Sprint is eliminating 2,000 jobs, or about 5 percent of its staff, as part of an effort to cut its annual spending and turn around several quarters of losses. The company said the cuts will be made over the coming weeks and months. Sprint announced a separate round of job cuts in early October, and did not say how many jobs were eliminated at that time. Sprint said Monday that job cuts would reduce its labor costs by a combined $400 million per year.

The third-largest cellphone carrier in the U.S. has lost billions of dollars in recent years as subscribers canceled contracts and is trying to compete better with AT&T and Verizon.

The company also named Junichi Miyakawa as technical chief operating officer last Friday. Miyakawa will oversee Sprint's network as the company completes its network overhaul.

Sprint, which is 80 percent owned by Japan's SoftBank, said its operating losses narrowed to $192 million in the third quarter, from a loss of $398 million in the same quarter a year ago.