Sprint Continues to Support Tornado Relief and Recovery Efforts in the South

Relief includes waiver of text messaging fees for mobile donations until June 30 and mobile service-repair vans for wireless customers in hard-hit areas

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), May 06, 2011 – In the days following the tragic storms and tornadoes that ravaged the southern United States, Sprint (NYSE:S, news, filings) is continuing its support of the relief and recovery efforts of the residents, first responders and medical personnel in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

In addition, Sprint is waiving standard text-messaging fees for the following mobile donations in support of the storm relief, between now and June 30, 2011:

• Text “REDCROSS” to “90999” to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief
• Text “SUPPORT” to “27722” to give $10 to United Way-Russell and Washington Counties
• Text “TORNADO” to “50555” to give $10 to United Way-Central Alabama
• Text “OKGIVE” to “27722” to give $10 to The mGive Foundation for Tushka Disaster Relief Fund
• Text “MS” to “27722” to give $10 to the Mississippi Disaster Recovery Fund
• Text “CONVOY” to “50555” to give $10 to Convoy of Hope

Through Wednesday, May 11, 2011, Sprint customers and other wireless users in and around Pleasant Grove, Ala., can visit the Sprint Service and Repair Van at 716 Ninth Ave., next to Hill’s Foodland supermarket for additional support. At the Sprint Service and Repair Van, residents will be able to call friends and family, access the Internet, charge batteries, triage their devices and replace and repair as needed, order replacement phones, and initiate insurance claims.

In Tuscaloosa, Ala., customers can visit the Sprint store located at 1241 McFarland Blvd. to contact friends and family, access the Internet, charge batteries and for service and repair.

Since April 29, the Sprint Emergency Response Team (ERT) has been serving several agencies, including the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office of Fort Payne, Ala., Huntsville Hospital and Trauma Center in Huntsville, Ala., the Tuscaloosa Sheriff’s Department of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and the DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency with Cell Sites on Wheels (COWs), Satellite Cell on Light Trucks (SatCOLTS) and Sprint ERT Go-Kits™ to provide immediate access to mobile communications tools for their recovery efforts.

Created in 2002, the Sprint Emergency Response Team is a group of seasoned personnel with expertise in providing immediate restoration of wireless voice, data and IP service, Sprint Mobile Broadband devices, and fully charged Sprint and Nextel Direct Connect® phones to facilitate coordination among disaster relief and emergency response agencies, public safety officials and medical personnel.

Sprint ERT maintains a 24-hour hotline, 365 days a year, to rapidly address client needs and, during times of state- and federally declared national disasters, provides 25 mobile devices and wireless service free of charge for 14 days to state and local agencies.

Ninety-five percent of Sprint’s wireless networks in the impacted states have recovered from the storm damage, and Sprint disaster recovery technicians are aggressively servicing and managing cell sites still affected by local power outages and other related damages.

Sprint had previously announced a Sprint Foundation donation of $100,000 to the American Red Cross relief efforts for impacted residents and a matching of American Red Cross donations made by Sprint employees and retirees and members of the Sprint board of directors.

Additionally, as part of its ongoing work with weather data and hurricane forecasting expert Mark Sudduth of HurricaneTrack.com, Sprint has supplied his team with Sprint 3G and 4G mobile phones and broadband devices to give them fast and reliable mobile Internet connectivity during their online and video reporting during hurricane and storm seasons. Sudduth is based in Wilmington, N.C., and has reported on close to 40 named tropical storms and hurricanes along the Atlantic Coast since 1998.

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 51 million customers at the end of 1Q 2011 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, 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.

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