Sprint’s Hometown Proud Preferred Businesses Program Offers KC-Area Small Businesses Exclusive Access to Sprint’s 7,000+ Local Employees

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), February 03, 2011 – Small businesses across the metro Kansas City area could earn invaluable access and incalculable free exposure to one of the area’s most coveted groups of consumers – Sprint’s more than 7,000 local employees – just by being Sprint customers.

By doing business with Sprint, small businesses can register for Sprint’s Hometown Proud Preferred Businesses program (www.sprint.com/hometown) – a small business initiative that urges Sprint employees to buy locally, bolster the area economy, and build local businesses by making the bulk of their purchases at local stores and shops.

Nearly 15,000 area small businesses are currently Sprint customers who buy products ranging from 4G phones to Internet data lines. Hundreds have already signed up for Hometown Proud Preferred Businesses. Sprint wants to add more to broaden the choice for employees.

On a website exclusive to Sprint employees, the Hometown Proud program lists a variety of different types of businesses – from plumbers to data consultants. Employees can sort the list by company name, business type or location, and businesses that register have routinely added special discounts and offers to entice Sprint employees.

“The program demonstrates our commitment to the Kansas City area in a number of ways,” said Karen Noel, small business marketing manager. “The Hometown Proud Preferred Businesses website affords Sprint small business customers free ad space and exposure to Sprint’s 7,000-plus local employees. Multiply that by the number of friends and family members that employees have, and the exposure grows exponentially.”

New offers and discounts are updated nearly every day on the program’s website – which is just a few mouse clicks from the company’s intranet home page. More than $10,000 in discounts and deals from local small businesses are available now to local Sprint employees.

The number of businesses in the local program has surged in recent weeks, thanks in part to Sprint employees who have referred businesses to the site.

“The draw for local businesses is the buying power of Sprint employees,” Noel said. “We’ve not only had a great response from our own customer base but we have had many businesses transfer from our competition, because these owners see the obvious value of Sprint employees’ collective buying power.”

Existing Sprint small business customers who want to participate in the program may register at sprint.com/hometown. For small businesses interested in becoming Sprint customers or curious about the company’s small business product line, the company provides a toll-free number, 1-877-746-8249. For more information on the Sprint Small Business offers and advantages, prospective customers can visit any of the local Sprint retail stores or check out a special small business website at www.sprint.com/smallbiz.

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 served more than 48.8 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.