Sprint Nextel Completes IWO Buy

Sprint Nextel, the nation's Number Three wireless provider, has closed a 427 (m) million dollar deal to buy wireless affiliate I-W-O Holdings, which provides wireless services in New England, upstate New York and Pennsylvania.

I-W-O Holdings provides Sprint-branded services in upstate New York, New Hampshire, Vermont and parts of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. I-W-O, with 230 employees and 2004 revenue of 187 (m) million dollar, has more than 241-thousand subscribers.

This is the third affiliate that Sprint Nextel has acquired since Sprint acquired Nextel Communications in August.

SPRINT PRESENTS 2006 NFL PRO BOWL BALLOTING

Today fans can begin voting to select players for the 2006 Pro Bowl, the NFL's annual All-Star Game, with balloting on Sprint wireless phones, on NFL.com and in stadiums sponsored by Sprint, the NFL announced Tuesday.

Balloting for the Pro Bowl, which will be played in Hawaii on Sunday, Feb. 12 and televised by ESPN, will conclude Dec.13. The teams will be announced at 7 p.m. (ET) Wednesday, Dec. 21 on the 2006 Pro Bowl Selection Show on ESPN.

In addition to casting ballots on NFL.com and in stadiums, fans can cast their Pro Bowl ballot by sending a text message from a Sprint wireless phone to vote for their favorite players at each position. Standard text messaging charges apply.
Fans who vote for their Pro Bowl players then will be able to enter for a chance to win a trip to the Pro Bowl in the 2006 NFL Pro Bowl Sweepstakes presented by Sprint. The Grand Prize includes an all-expense-paid trip to the game in Honolulu as well as exclusive experiences such as the chance to meet and talk football with Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback JOHN ELWAY, attend practice, take a tour of Aloha Stadium, obtain pregame sideline passes and more.

The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are made up of the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group's vote counts one-third towards determining the 43-man rosters that represent the American Football Conference and National Football Conference in the Pro Bowl. NFL players and coaches will cast their votes Dec. 19-20.

The NFL is the only sports league that combines voting by fans, coaches and players to determine its all-star teams. It was the first professional sports league to offer online all-star voting in 1995.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback PEYTON MANNING topped all players in fan voting last season, while Philadelphia Eagles quarterback DONOVAN MC NABB was the fans' top NFC choice.
Following is a breakdown of positions and corresponding number of players who will be selected in each conference (43 per conference):
OFFENSE
Wide Receivers (4)
Tight Ends (2)
Tackles (3)
Guards (3)
Centers (2)
Quarterbacks (3)
Running Backs (3)
Fullback (1)

DEFENSE
Ends (3)
Interior Linemen (3)
Outside Linebackers (3)
Inside Linebackers (2)
Cornerbacks (3)
Safeties (3)
Need Player (1-Coach's Choice)

SPECIAL TEAMS
Punter (1)
Placekicker (1)
Kick Returner (1)
Special Teamer (1)

Throughout the season fans can get the latest NFL information from NFL Mobile on Sprint wireless phones. NFL Mobile provides a first-of-its-kind package of programming designed specifically for wireless, giving fans exclusive access to NFL content and original programming. The package includes NFL Network, exclusive video- and audio-on-demand highlights from NFL Films, and up-to-the-minute team/player scores, stats and injury reports.

Sprint's Trench Coat Guy gets disconnected after 155 commercials

Until last month he was the spokescharacter for Sprint wireless phones, the guy who solved pesky cellular problems wherever and whenever they arose. He was ubiquitous, appearing in 155 commercials over six years. More than that, he was an icon -- the Mr. Whipple, the Madge or Mikey of his time.

Now Trench Coat Guy is gone, dropped like a bad connection.

He is, it seems, a victim of corporate politics. Trench Coat Guy was great when Sprint was selling its services primarily to household customers. But Sprint recently bought Nextel for $35 billion, and Nextel is focused on the business market, and so the company wants a new image.

Trench Coat Guy is therefore "on hiatus," explained spokeswoman Mary Nell Westbrook, who said he might reappear in the future.

Might. At some point. Maybe.

Trench Coat Guy gave a fresh face to an otherwise faceless, multibillion-dollar telecommunications behemoth (and helped make it successful enough to buy another faceless telecommunications behemoth). He was all about underselling.

Trench Coat Guy solved cell phone problems in a way that suggested Sprint knew there was more to life than solving cell phone problems. His commercials were offbeat mini-sitcoms that disarmed the viewer with their gentle absurdity and mocking self-awareness.

He came to the rescue, for example, when a talkative preteen girl faced the agony of waiting until her cell plan's cheaper evening rates kicked in. The girl spent the time braiding the hair of everyone in her family, including Dad and the dog. Trench Coat Guy pointed out Sprint's evening rates start at 7 p.m., instead of the usual 9. Problem solved.

In another ad, Olympic snowboarder Jonny Moseley grew frustrated because his big gloves prevented dialing his phone on the slopes. Trench Coat Guy came tromping through the snow, in suit and tie, to introduce Moseley to Sprint's voice-activated calling.

Another series of commercials touted the supposed clarity of Sprint's network. Mom, using the evidently inferior Brand X phone, called the babysitter, but static interfered: "I asked how are the kids ... and she floured the kids!" Cut to Trench Coat Guy sitting next to two children with faces full of flour.

A grateful customer in another ad once asked Trench Coat Guy: "Who are you"? In typically mysterious fashion, Trench Coat Guy replied: "It's not about me, ma'am."

Trench Coat Guy is a 38-year-old actor named Brian Baker, who doesn't seem a bit like the deadpan dude he's been playing. Baker laughs often as he tells of his character's genesis, and expresses bewilderment about, and gratitude for, a 30-second performance that turned into the role of a lifetime.

Baker was selected from among 350 actors who auditioned in 1999. He worked out the character's fictitious background with the commercial's director, Peter Care. "He said, `This is a guy who won't get married, won't have children, will live in his car, and will forfeit everything to stop static. It's his mission in life,'" said Baker by phone.

The distinctive look was his idea. "We tried on 50 different things -- a black turtleneck, a peacoat, you name it. I felt like the black suit and the black trench coat fit this guy best. It had a kind of iconic feel, this flowing look that you could depict in a silhouette. Not to mention that it's very slimming."

Baker says he was inspired by another unflappable figure -- the late Jack Webb, who played the just-the-facts-ma'am detective on Dragnet.

Sprint originally wanted Baker for five commercials. The early response to Trench Coat Guy -- the character never officially had a name, Baker says -- was so favorable that Sprint's ad agency, Publicis & Hal Riney of San Francisco, kept turning out TV commercials, radio and print ads, and sales-training films, all starring Baker.

With his face constantly before the public, Baker couldn't walk down the street without strangers excitedly approaching him. The attention was "surreal sometimes," he says.

Sprint Communications sues VoIP carriers for licence fees

A unit of Sprint Nextel is suing Vonage and another VoIP provider, alleging that the companies are infringing its patents.

Sprint Communications claims the companies have violated seven patents relating to technology for processing and delivering packetised voice and data, including VoIP. Its suit seeks an injunction against further infringement and unspecified monetary damages. In addition to Vonage the suit names Voiceglo, says Sprint Nextel spokes­woman Debra Peterson.

Vonage is one of the biggest VoIP service providers in the US, with more than one million active lines, according to the company. Voiceglo, based in Florida, also provides packet-based phone services over the internet.

Sprint Nextel had been talking with the companies for more than a year, Peterson says.
“We had tried to discuss possible licence agreements that would permit them to use our [intellectual property] legally,” Peterson says. But the companies were unable to reach agreement.

“We’re going to take all steps necessary to protect the creativity and innovation of our employees,” Peterson says. She declined to comment on whether Sprint Nextel has been negotiating with other VoIP providers or whether it planned to take legal action against them.

Vonage and Voiceglo were not available for comment.

Sprint Nextel was formed earlier this year through the merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications. It is the third-largest mobile operator in the US and also has wireline operations inherited from Sprint.

Mobile phones morph into on-the-go computers

WEREN'T cell phones made for talking? That is so yesterday.
Cell phones are quickly becoming an on-the-go entertainment center.

And everyone from carriers to handset makers to software firms is jumping on the bandwagon.

Just look at the blitz of recent product introductions:

- Phones that double as MP3 music players.

- Phones that air broadcast news and TV shows.

- Phones that play movie clips.

- Phones that allow multiplayer gaming.

For business-minded users, there are phones that download e-mails with attachments at broadband speeds, phones that allow users to work in corporate databases and customer relations programs, and phones attached to cars that diagnose mechanical problems.

Never mind that 96 percent of mobile industry revenue comes from plain old voice telephone calls, according to statistics gathered by the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association.

"Voice is the core of the industry. But when you look at the growth in data revenue, then you see a very impressive trend in how people are adopting to the services available to them," said CTIA vice president John Walls, explaining the hype.

Industry revenue from transporting data — digitized content in everything from videos to e-mail to music and photos — grew 85 percent in the year ending June to $3.8 billion, according to the CTIA. It's still a small piece of the $108 billion in overall mobile revenues in that year, but voice revenues only grew by 4.5 percent, according to CTIA.

Analysts at M:Metrics and other research firms say that disparity is pushing carriers to pursue data services. In search of growth — that holy grail of business — carriers, handset makers and software developers are fast introducing non-voice uses.

Indeed, even hardware companies not before involved in telephony have introduced products.

To wit: Apple Computer Inc. launched the iTunes ROKR, an iTunes-capable mobile phone, with Cingular Wireless and Motorola Inc. Hewlett-Packard Co. is working on an iPaq Pocket service that uses GPS mobile technology to tell the history of where the user happens to be.

Verizon Wireless in the last month alone launched half a dozen new data uses for its network, including several gaming services, a smartphone with Palm Inc. and Microsoft Corp., a productivity application for wireless laptops, and an MP3 phone. And like its competing carriers, itlaunched a mobile TV service.

The average cell phone user produces $47.93 in voice revenues and $3.50 in data revenues per month. But last year, average revenue per user grew less than 1 percent even though average minutes of use grew 15.8 percent, according to the CTIA.

So companies are turning to data services to ring up more sales.

"What you see happening, on the business side or the consumer side, is the cellular phone or wireless device has become the primary communications tool for most people," said Richard Garwood, president of Verizon Wireless' Northern California and Nevada region.

"Look at college kids and high school kids — it's the main tool for their tribe. Also, in the business community people want everything on one device, so they don't have to carry pager, laptop, calendar," Garwood said.

Verizon Wireless invested $1 billion in the past year above its usual $4 billion yearly expenditure on network upgrades to add high-speed broadband capability. Verizon thus became the first cellular carrier to roll out a broadband wireless network.

Cingular and Sprint, the other two major wireless carriers in the U.S., quickly followed with announcements of broadband intentions. Sprint has already begun to roll out its broadband service.

While Verizon said it upgraded to broadband because subscribers wanted it, the carrier is not sitting around waiting for subscribers to decide to use it. Instead Verizon is spending millions of dollars to underwrite the marketing of games and music and business applications developed by independent software developers for use on its network. In the month of September alone, Verizon helped launch applications by Gameloft, Namco America, Dell Computer, Palm Inc. and Microsoft Corp. It also launched its own MP3 music player mobile phone.

Meanwhile, Nokia Inc., the largest maker of mobile handsets worldwide, did its own share of underwriting the marketing efforts of third-party developers who created software for its Series 60 platform.

Nokia estimates 1.5 million developers worldwide are creating software for its mobile phones and for smartphones made by its competitors Research In Motion, which makes BlackBerry,

Sprint Nextel Board Approves New Deferred Compensation Plan

Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) disclosed Friday that its board approved a new deferred compensation plan, to be effective Jan. 1, 2006.

Eligible participants will be employees of the communications company and its units at director level and above and outside directors, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Sprint Nextel said eligible employees will be allowed to elect, in the year before the compensation is earned, to contribute up to 75% of base salary and up to 100% of incentive compensation, in increments of 1%, to the deferred compensation plan.

Outside directors will be allowed to contribute up to 100% of director fees in increments of 1%, the filing said.

The company said that all contributions, and earnings credited to contributions, will be 100% vested.

Investment options will be selected by the employee benefits committee in a manner designed to offer diversification across asset classes, according to the filing.

The investment options will include phantom share units representing shares of Sprint Nextel common stock. All investments will be unfunded obligations of Sprint Nextel.

The company said participants will be able to transfer between investment options on any business day, but only four transfers may be made in each calendar year and three months must elapse between transfers.

In addition, participants will be able to elect payment of benefits to begin on a specified date at least five years in the future or upon termination of employment, the filing said.

Is VoIP Killing Big Telecom?

Last week's Sprint Nextel patent infringement suit against VoIP providers Vonage and Voiceglo make one thing clear: VoIP is killing off Big Telecom. The courts are always the last refuge of a dying industry.

VoIP challenges telecom providers as well as wireless companies and cable companies --- virtually anyone who still thinks that providing dialtone is a good business plan.

Making money off normal phone service is a thing of the past. IP telephony is less expensive and offers more features than normal phone service, both for consumers and corporations.

Sprint Nextel is trodding a well-worn path in resorting to the courts to try and save its business. Rather than fighting upstarts by innovating or offering better services, it's hoping its lawyers can bully them into submission, or maybe bleed them to death in a lengthy lawsuit.

Unless the courts ally themselves with Big Telecom, the tactic won't work. VoIP is here to stay, as are clever competitors like Vonage. As long as companies like Sprint Nextel believe the way to compete is through the courts, the handwriting is on the wall --- they're a thing of the past.