Sprint offers exec incentive to stay

Sprint Nextel Corp., under pressure from investors to abandon plans for a high-speed wireless network, will pay the executive in charge of the project as much as $500,000 if he stays through the end of the year.

Chief Technology Officer Barry West will get a prorated payment if he resigns or is fired, Sprint said in a regulatory filing. West had a similar agreement in 2007, said James Fisher, spokesman for the Reston, Va., firm.

Investors such as Ralph Whitworth of San Diego-based Relational Investors are urging Sprint to focus on improving its mobile-phone operations instead of building the new service, which would blanket entire cities with fast Internet access.