Kansas City, Mo ? Sprint Corp. announced Wednesday it will cut another 2,100 jobs during the next year as it restructures operations and cuts costs.

The Overland Park company said it will combine network, information technology and billing operations for several of its divisions as a way to save up to $145 million a year.

Sprint FON shares closed down 56 cents at $13.60 in trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, while Sprint PCS shares lost 25 cents and closed at $4.80.

The layoffs are the latest in a series Sprint has made to try to stop losses. The telecommunications industry has been in a deep funk for several years.

Last month, Sprint PCS, the company’s wireless division, laid off about 1,600 workers, or 6 percent of the division’s work force. About 660 of the jobs were in the Kansas City area. PCS also released about 500 contractors.

Sprint, the nation’s third-largest long-distance provider and fourth-largest wireless provider, has laid off more than 15,000 employees since October 2001.

“The consolidations we are announcing today are a necessary step if we are to capitalize on our strength, which is the ability to offer a complete portfolio of wireline and wireless voice, data and Internet services under a single brand at a competitive price,” said William T. Esrey, Sprint’s chairman and chief executive officer.

The company said the reorganization’s goal is to create one division to handle all local, long-distance, Internet and wireless network needs for its customers.

Sprint now has separate divisions for local telephone, wireless and other services.

The 2,100 layoffs include about 1,000 job cuts that are a direct result of the consolidation; 600 will be in network services, 300 will be in information technology and 150 will be in billing and accounts receivable.

The other 1,100 job cuts are chiefly an effort to cut costs; 450 will be in local telephone operations; 300 will be in global markets and 200 will be from corporate center staff.

About half of the layoffs will be in Kansas City and the rest will be spread throughout the country, all during the course of the next year, said Bill White, a Sprint spokesman.