Sprint is First Major U.S. Wireless Carrier to Offer Femtocell for Wholesale Partners

Post-Paid Wireless Resellers to Deliver Reliable Wireless Service at Home or in the Office

On Wednesday June 10, 2009, 9:00 am EDT

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Marking an industry first, Sprint (NYSE:S [1] - News [2]) wholesale partners can now take advantage of enhanced wireless coverage with the nationwide availability of a femtocell solution. The femtocell is the newest component in Sprint's suite of industry-leading wholesale solutions, which features wholesale wireline, wireless voice and data, machine-to-machine and VoIP solutions. The availability of the femtocell further supports Sprint's strategy to deliver converged solutions to the marketplace.

A femtocell functions like a mini cell tower. It provides improved wireless coverage up to 5,000 square feet by creating a CDMA network signal within the customer's home or small office. The service works with any Sprint phone and requires an existing Internet broadband connection to carry the call back to the main Sprint network. When compared to unlicensed spectrum solutions (e.g., typical public WiFi network solutions), the femtocell offers more reliable performance and less interference. The technology behind the femtocell has received several awards, including Best of Innovations at CES 2008, Emerging Technologies Award - 1st Place: Network Infrastructure Category at CTIA 2008, and Best of CTIA 2007 "Best Cell Phone Accessory" Award from LAPTOP Magazine.

Wholesale partners and customers will realize several benefits from the availability of the Sprint femtocell. For example, this technology offers savings and increased coverage improves customer satisfaction. Furthermore, a femtocell allows wireline and cable partners to add wireless to their portfolio, which is especially important as "cord cutting" continues to spike in tough economic times.

"We want to provide the best set of solutions to Sprint partners and their customers," said Jim Patterson, president-Sprint Wholesale Solutions. "With this launch, Sprint is delivering on its goals to deliver the innovative solutions that our partners want and need to be successful. The femtocell offering is not only a differentiator in the marketplace but is very compelling to those who want to get into the wireless business."

With a femtocell, Sprint resellers and customers can:

• Take advantage of enhanced coverage without having to purchase a new phone.
• Enjoy enhanced coverage for calls on up to three lines simultaneously.
• Easily install the device using their existing broadband Internet connection and AC power outlet. The femtocell is ready to use straight out of the box, with no configuration changes required.
• Take their call with them: Calls initiated on the femtocell will transfer automatically to the Nationwide Sprint Network when leaving the femtocell coverage area.

"Sprint continues to be a leader of in the wholesale space as evidenced by their recent best-in-class ratings for customer service, provisioning (equipment install and network reliability) and sales," says Fedor Smith, president-Atlantic ACM. "This type of innovation is what we've come to expect from this company."

ABOUT SPRINT NEXTEL

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving more than 49 million customers at the end of the first quarter 2009; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com [3].

* Calls transfer dependent upon sufficient signal from the Sprint Network beyond the range of the femtocell base station.

Contact:

Sprint
Kathleen Dunleavy, 310-709-3689
kathleen.dunleavy@sprint.com [4]