Sprint's devotion to wireless raises questions

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: OPTICAL NETWORKING
07/18/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* What about Sprint's landline business?
* Links related to Optical Networking
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Sprint's devotion to wireless raises questions

By Denise Pappalardo

Sprint's announcement last week that it is acquiring one of its
affiliates underscores the carrier's continued emphasis on its
wireless business - an emphasis that has raised questions about
whether Sprint is fully committed to its traditional, landline
business customers.

The short answer to the question is yes, according to industry
watchers, but there is no denying Sprint is devoted to wireless
since announcing its plans in December to merge with Nextel in a
$35 billion deal. The merger is expected to close within the
next couple of months.

The carrier's investments and focus are, at least publicly,
exclusively on wireless from an acquisition and product
development standpoint. Sprint is spending $1.3 billion to buy
its second largest affiliate, US Unwired, and others could
follow. The carrier also is spending a healthy majority of its
capital this year on wireless. This year the carrier projects it
will spend nearly $3 billion on its wireless network, about $900
million on local networks and services and about $300 million on
its long-distance networks, including IP.

"We have a large and robust IP network today, and if you look at
investments we made year by year you will probably see we would
not be alone in our slowdown," says Vicki Warker, vice president
of marketing and products for Sprint Business Solutions.

Sprint has yet to make a single announcement this year that does
not include wireless technology.

What you will find are press releases that include integrated
services, such as Sprint's EV-DO service launch, and
announcements about customer wins, such as Ford's plan to
migrate 8,000 users exclusively to wireless. You will not find
an announcement that solely refers to its VPN or security
services or a customer win that involves only these landline
offerings.

Sprint is expected to announce today additional enhancements for
its PCS Data Link service, supporting for the first time
wireless-to-MPLS network access for business customers.

"From an organizational perspective, Sprint has been focused on
the Nextel merger," says Lisa Pierce, senior analyst at
Forrester Research. "But it's also focused on making headway
with new capabilities like MPLS."

Another analyst agrees. "From what we can see, Sprint is in the
enterprise services business. There has been no change there,"
says David Rohde, analyst at TechCaliber. "They certainly aren't
doing a good job making that clear publicly, but they are still
in the enterprise services business."

Sprint acknowledges it has been publicly focused on wireless,
but the carrier says it is committed to its enterprise business
customers.

"There is a lot more buzz around wireless, but we view the
wireline business as the foundation for everything we do. It's a
strategic asset to us," Warker says.

One customer says he has no complaints about service levels or
attention from Sprint since the carrier announced its Nextel
acquisition. Jim Giantomenico, senior vice president and CIO at
Finlay, a fine jewelry retailer with counters in more than 900
department stores, says his team is meeting weekly with the
account manager and several representatives in anticipation of
network changes that include using wireless access to the
company's corporate network.

He says Sprint's merger with Nextel is a good move in the long
term. "Any time you have a merger of this magnitude there is the
risk of taking your eye off of the ball in the short term," he
says. But he hasn't noticed any negative changes so far.

Warker says many of Sprint's new wireless services and
capabilities announced over the past 12 months are integrated
with its wireline business. She says that Sprint's wireless
business users are treated like enterprise customers. Examples
include Sprint's service-level agreements for wireless voice and
data services for business users, and the carrier's remote
access Extended Workplace offer couples Wi-Fi, PCS and dial-up
access from a single client, she says.
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Denise Pappalardo

Denise Pappalardo is a Senior Editor at Network World covering
service providers. She can be reached at
<mailto:denise_pappalardo@nww.com>
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