Sprint enhances 3G network coverage in Indianapolis

As the Circle City prepares for a super football game on Feb. 5, Sprint ramps up its 3G coverage, including five Cells On Wheels downtown

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), January 18, 2012 – Whether they support big brother Harbaugh or little brother Harbaugh, visitors to Indianapolis for the NFL championship game will find a Circle City lit up with 3G network enhancements from Sprint (NYSE:S, news, filings).

To prepare for the expected 150,000 visitors to the city, Sprint has:

• Activated two COWs (Cells on Wheels) outside Lucas Oil Stadium;
• Activated two COWs to Super Bowl Village;
• Activated one COW at the University of Indianapolis NFC practice facility;
• Added capacity to 21 CDMA sites and seven iDEN sites around downtown and surrounding area hotels, including a major capacity upgrade inside the stadium.

Additionally, Sprint has implemented 52 network capacity upgrades throughout the Indianapolis market in the past 90 days, with 46 additional enhancements planned for the next 20 days. The upgrades encompass all aspects of a customer’s wireless experience, including voice, data and in-building solutions.

So what does this really mean for Sprint customers and football fans? In a word: Everything. It should mean faster data speeds, so you can access Sprint Navigation faster and find the nearest team pep rally. It should mean fewer dropped calls so you can call friends to gloat over the game’s final score. It means confidence that Sprint is committed to investing in Indiana and keeping pace with the ever-increasing demand for data. These enhancements to the Sprint 3G Network also should serve to bolster performance of the company’s no-contract brands, including devices from Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA.

“Indianapolis is often called the Crossroads of America, but in the next few weeks, it will be the destination for thousands of media, fans and celebrities,” said Kevin Gleason, regional vice president, Sprint retail sales. “Sprint has been proactively planning for this influx for months so our customers can enjoy their time here focused on fun and football.”

Sprint’s focus, meanwhile, has been on a program called Network Vision. Nationwide, Sprint is overhauling its entire network and replacing existing equipment with the newest, most advanced equipment available in the industry through the Network Vision program.

Announced in December 2010, Network Vision is planned to consolidate multiple network technologies into one seamless network with the goal of increasing efficiency and enhancing network coverage, call quality and data speeds for customers. Smartphone penetration is expected to double over the next four years.* With Network Vision, Sprint is making it easier for data to travel so smartphone customers – who average 10 times more data use than feature phone customers* – can use their devices the way they were meant.

Network Vision and the recent upgrades reflect Sprint’s commitment to customer service, which tied for the No. 1 spot among major wireless carriers for customer satisfaction in the 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index. The survey showed Sprint as the most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all industries, over the past three years.

As Sprint adds capacity across the country on the existing network – 28,513 in 2011– Network Vision work on 38,000 cell sites is underway. For a detailed look at capacity upgrades in different markets, visit www.sprint.com/network.

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 53 million customers at the end of 3Q 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. The 2011 American Customer Satisfaction Index showed Sprint is the #1 most improved company in customer satisfaction, across all industries, over the last three years. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 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.

*Source: Mobile Access 2010, PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE PROJECT)

“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 network performance, coverage and capabilities, business and network efficiencies, migration of services new technologies, timing of deployment, and products and services, as well as other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements. The words “estimate,” “project,” “forecast,” intend,” “expect,” “believe,” “target,” 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, development and deployment of new technologies; efficiencies and cost savings of multimode technologies; customer and network usage; customer growth and retention; service, coverage and quality; availability of devices; the timing of various events and the economic 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 Dec. 31, 2010, in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” and in Part II, Item 1A, “Risk Factors,” of its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2011.