Sprint Nextel Announces Process to Divest iDEN Assets in Parts of Midwestern States

Process to Bring Company into Compliance with iPCS Court Ruling

• On Friday June 12, 2009, 1:26 pm EDT

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE:S [1] - News [2]) publicly announced today its process for finding a buyer and divesting certain Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) assets in parts of several Midwestern states. The sale of these assets will bring Sprint into compliance with an Illinois court ruling requiring the company to cease owning, operating or managing the Nextel National Network in markets primarily located in parts of Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Nebraska. The divestiture of these iDEN assets will have a de minimis impact on Sprint's financial results.

Sprint Nextel, working with its financial advisor, Citi, has prepared information on the assets to be divested for prospective buyers. Interested parties not already contacted by Sprint should send an expression of interest to Citi for more detail. The sale process, including any subsequent transaction, is expected to be fully completed in advance of the court-ordered deadline of Jan. 25, 2010. No assets associated with Sprint's National Network (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA) will be divested as part of this process.

Sprint Nextel customers in the geographical areas associated with this divestiture will continue to enjoy service provided on the Nextel National Network during the sale process and the company will work with any future provider to offer a seamless transition. The company does not anticipate any interruption or degradation of service during or following any transaction.

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 of 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].

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

This news release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the securities laws. The statements in this news release regarding the possible sale of these assets, as well as other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The words "estimate," "project," "forecast," "intend," "expect," "believe," "target," "providing guidance" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are estimates and projections reflecting management's judgment based on currently available information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements. With respect to these forward-looking statements, management has made assumptions regarding, among other things, the timing of various events and the economic and regulatory environment.

Sprint Nextel believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations and speak only as of the date of this release. Sprint Nextel is not obligated to publicly release any revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events after the date of this release. Sprint Nextel provides a detailed discussion of risk factors in periodic SEC filings, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 in Part I, Item 1A, "Risk Factors."

Contact:

Sprint Nextel
Media Relations
Leigh Horner
703-433-3044
leigh.horner@sprint.com [4]
or
Investor Relations
Yijing Brentano
800-259-3755
investor.relations@sprint.com [5]