With not enough employees taking Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel up on its voluntary buyout offer, the latest analyst speculation is that the carrier will put up to 10 percent of its workforce out on the street after the holidays. It appears everything is on the table as Sprint CEO Dan Hesse prepares to make even more drastic moves to bring the house in order, the AP reports. The latest round of job cuts would come just one year after the carrier made an equivalent round of layoffs and closed almost 10 percent of its company-owned stores. If the plan goes through, it will mark the third straight year in a row that the carrier has made steep job cuts.

Speculating on Sprint’s next move, Pali Research analyst Walter Piecyk said he also expects Hesse to consider lowering prices again to jump-start another attempt at making inroads against AT&T (NYSE: T), Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) and T-Mobile USA. Already, Sprint offers one of the lowest all-you-can-eat plans at $99 per month. When Hesse was close to introducing the plan earlier this year, all the other major carriers followed suit and it led to an industry-wide price cut on unlimited voice plans. Sprint’s $99 unlimited plan includes voice, messaging and all data services, whereas the other carriers were only willing to offer unlimited voice at that price. Last month the carrier offered voluntary buyout packages to most of it 57,000 employees who don’t interact directly with customers. Less than a week later, details about a massive outsourcing plan that would affect IT and network operations emerged. All in all, it’s just more bad news for the carrier that has floundered endlessly since acquiring Nextel Communications in 2005.

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