Sprint Sheds Landlines, Looks to Future

In what seems to be a growing trend among telcos with wireless businesses, Sprint Nextel said on Thursday it had completed the spin-off of its landline business. The new company, called Embarq, would be an independent, publicly traded company.

Sprint said the move was intended to allow it to focus on its mobile product line. The company has several large projects in development, and needed to focus its resources where the company is increasingly making a larger portion of its revenue.

"Completing the spin-off of Embarq marks another major milestone in the strategy that drove the merger of Sprint and Nextel," Sprint Nextel president and CEO Gary Forsee said in a statement.

"Our company is now positioned to focus on our vision of converging our unique wireless and Internet wireline assets to create an entirely new suite of mobility and IP-based products and services for our customers."

Along with the spin-off announcement, Sprint highlighted its upcoming moves in the wireless and data sector. Its high-speed Power Vision network is slated to receive second-generation upgrades next year, and its partnership with cable providers will begin a full-scale rollout in 2007 as well.

Also to come is a dual-mode phone that would allow Sprint to offer the benefits of the walkie-talkie features of Nextel's iDEN with fast data speeds and better voice quality through CDMA. That phone is expected to debut in the second quarter of 2006, the company said.

Sprint added that it is close to announcing a technology selection for its fourth generation wireless plans, and expected to make an announcement on that front in the coming months.

"We have the strategy, we have the best assets and we are focusing on serving our customers better and better every day," Forsee said. "As we move into this next phase of our company's mission, I couldn't be more excited about what lies ahead."