Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Forsee says Sprint PCS on track for PTT launch within weeks

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 06 Nov 2003 08:42:02 -0500

Forsee says Sprint PCS on track for PTT launch within weeks
By Dan Meyer
November 05 12:56:00, 2003

Sprint Corp. Chief Executive Officer Gary Forsee said the company’s
wireless division is on track to launch its highly
anticipated Ready Link walkie-talkie service this quarter ahead of the
holiday shopping season and presumably prior to the
implementation of wireless local number portability Nov. 24.

Forsee, speaking at the Yankee Group Telecom Industry Conference, said
the carrier expects the push-to-talk offering to
prove compelling to business users and should help the carrier benefit
from the WLNP mandate.

“We view portability, again particularly on the business side, as a
significant opportunity and therefore push-to-talk in that
environment for customers that have a need for that service is
complementary,” Forsee explained.

Analysts expect Sprint PCS to launch its push-to-talk offering within
the next two weeks.

Forsee also said Sprint PCS plans to spend approximately $2.1 billion on
capital expenditures next year, which is nearly the
same amount the carrier spent on its network this year.

“This year we’re spending $2.1, $2.2 billion on coverage, depth and
breadth of network, and that’s an investment that will
continue,” Forsee said. “We’ll likely spend kind of in that range next
year.”

http://rcrnews.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?newsId=15796