Sprint and Nextel have agreed to merge in $35 billion deal that would create
the nation's third largest wireless service provider. The new company will be
called Sprint Nextel.
With this merger, Sprint will get access to Nextel's customer base of
largely business customers. Over the next couple of years, Sprint Nextel plans to
migrate the existing Nextel services, including push to talk service, to
Sprint’s CDMA EV-DO network. Since Nextel's iDEN and Sprint's CDMA technology
are incompatible, all current Nextel customers will need to get new phones.
palmOne needs to make a significant effort to get Sprint's Push-to-Talk
service, ReadyLink, working on the Treo. In the UK, Orange is already offering a
PTT solution for
the Treo 600 based on software from Kodiak Networks.
With a strong PTT solution on the Treo, palmOne will be able to attract the influx of former Nextel customers.
The merger is expected to close in the second half of 2005.
