Report: Sprint seen choosing WiMax

TalkBack 1 of 8:

Next »

• Thread View
• Flat View

From the Horse's Mouth

August 8, 2006

From: Gary Forsee

To: All Sprint Nextel employees


Today Sprint Nextel is breaking new ground with the announcement of plans for deploying our 4G wireless broadband network -- the next generation of wireless technology using the WiMAX standard.

I'm particularly excited, because Sprint Nextel is on track to establishing a first-to-market next-generation network advantage. Not only are we going to deploy a nationwide mobile network that will offer cost and performance advantages that are substantially better than current 3G mobile broadband offerings, but we'll also be developing an array of wireless-enabled devices and interactive multimedia services for mass-market adoption. For business customers, our 4G network will allow powerful applications and solutions to significantly boost productivity. Our goal with business customers and prospects is to clearly communicate the advantages of today's mobile broadband offerings as the way to pave the migration path to 4G in the future. Both businesses and consumers will experience a nationwide mobile data network offering faster speeds, lower cost, greater convenience and enhanced multimedia quality.

Once deployed, our 4G wireless broadband network will position Sprint Nextel to help customers realize their "Internet everywhere" dream by delivering unprecedented high-quality, interactive content anywhere and anytime. Our goal is to harness the power of the Internet on any mobile device so businesses and consumers can be more productive, personally and professionally. 4G links two cornerstones of daily communications ? wireless connectivity and the Internet.

Our 4G network will take broadband mobility to the next level ? well beyond traditional mobile phone offerings. We'll describe a number of possible scenarios for the media and financial analysts in New York this afternoon, to help them understand the possibilities of today's announcement. Simply put, the opportunity before us is powerful. (If you are unable to join the live audio-only webcast of today's conference, you can catch an online audio replay starting tomorrow morning by following the instructions you received this morning, or by clicking the link below.)

We're teaming up with industry leaders ? Intel, Samsung and Motorola -- to develop and deploy our 4G wireless broadband network. Commitments from these partners in the areas of market development, mobile WiMAX device development and other contributions to our core business will speed our goal of deploying services and market adoption.

? Intel, the world's largest chip maker and a leading manufacturer of computer, networking, and communications products, will jump-start the market for Sprint's 4G service by embedding WiMAX modules in laptops over three years. Intel also will work toward adding WiMAX capabilities to other devices, while supporting 4G marketing plans.

? Samsung, one of the world's top electronics manufacturers and an acknowledged leader in digital convergence, will build 4G capabilities into consumer devices and work closely with Sprint in deploying the 4G technology across our network.

? Motorola, known around the world for innovation and leadership in wireless and broadband communications and developer of the technology for the National Nextel Network, will also deploy 4G wireless broadband technology in our network and in handsets.

Both Samsung and Motorola will participate in marketing activities. Combined, the scope and reach of our partnerships is impressive, and allows us a crucial first-to-market advantage in next-generation technology.

As the saying goes, "Knowledge is Power," and it will be important for you to stay informed about our plans for the 4G wireless broadband network so that you can answer questions from customers, your friends, neighbors and family members. As you know from my earnings message to you last week, we've established a 4G/broadband core team, headed by CTO and now President of our 4G mobile broadband team, Barry West, to take advantage of significant growth opportunities for which we've positioned ourselves. Through the work of this dedicated team, we'll identify and pursue 4G initiatives that will provide differentiated service offerings and an exceptional customer experience. To help our employee team stay updated on developments, we?ll be posting information regularly on i-Connect as we work to deploy advanced wireless broadband services, expected in 2008.

As I said last week, the possibilities for us are limitless. Today's announcement is proof that we are taking bold and exciting steps toward our future by building on our heritage of innovation and focusing on delivering powerful solutions to our customers. Our decision to use the mobile WiMAX technology standard to create our 4G network is the culmination of the tireless efforts and commitment of a cross-functional 4G broadband team who spent more than four years actively investigating, testing and planning. This is an exciting time to be part of Sprint Nextel.

Thank you, as always, for your continuing hard work and efforts that are laying the groundwork for our future.

Gary

Posted by: nsmallcomb@...   Posted on: 08/08/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Companies have rapidly adopted server virtualization over the past few ... Download Now
• Building the Virtualized Enterprise with VMware Iinfrastructure VMware VMware virtualization software has been adopted by over 120,000 enterprise ... Download Now
• Key Strategies for Federal Agencies - Safe and Cost Effective Migration for Legacy Hardware GovConnection The federal government has mandated that federal agencies reduce energy ... Download Now