Sprint - Nextel 2005 Annual Report Download - page 12

SPRINT NEXTEL CORPORATION
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K
Part I
Item 1. Business
Overview
The Corporation
Sprint Nextel Corporation, incorporated in 1938 under the laws of Kansas, is mainly a holding company, with its
operations primarily conducted by its subsidiaries. Unless the context otherwise requires, references to “Sprint
Nextel,” “we,” “us” and “our” mean Sprint Nextel Corporation and its subsidiaries. On August 12, 2005, a
subsidiary of our company merged with Nextel Communications, Inc. and, as a result, we acquired Nextel.
We are a global communications company offering a comprehensive suite of wireless and wireline
communications products and services that are designed to meet the needs of our targeted customer groups:
individuals, and business and government customers. Although our operations are divided into three lines of
business, wireless, long distance and local, we have organized our sales and distribution efforts to focus on the
needs of two distinct customer types – individuals, and businesses and government agencies, which has enabled
us to create customer-focused communications solutions that can incorporate any of our wireless and wireline
services. We are one of the three largest wireless companies in the United States based on the number of wireless
subscribers. We own extensive wireless networks and a global long distance, Tier 1 Internet backbone. We also
provide regulated local exchange telephone services to approximately 7.4 million access lines in our local service
territories in 18 states.
We, together with third-party affiliates, each referred to as a PCS Affiliate, and Nextel Partners, Inc., offer digital
wireless service in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The PCS Affiliates, through commercial
arrangements with us, provide wireless personal communications services, or PCS, under the Sprint®brand name
in certain mid-sized and tertiary United States markets on wireless networks built and operated at their expense,
in most instances using spectrum licensed to, and controlled by, us. Nextel Partners provides digital wireless
communications services under the Nextel®brand name in certain mid-sized and tertiary United States markets
on wireless networks built and operated at its expense. We, together with the PCS Affiliates, Nextel Partners and
resellers of our wireless service, served more than 49.6 million wireless subscribers at the end of 2005. During
2005 and the first quarter 2006, we acquired five PCS Affiliates, and we expect to acquire Nextel Partners in the
second quarter 2006.
We offer a wide array of wireless mobile telephone and wireless data transmission services on networks that
utilize code division multiple access, or CDMA, and integrated Digital Enhanced Network, or iDEN®,
technologies. We market wireless services provided on our CDMA network under the Sprint brand. We are
deploying high-speed evolution data optimized, or EV-DO, technology, which increases by up to 10 times
average mobile-device data speeds, across our CDMA network. The services supported by this technology,
marketed as PowerVisionSM, give consumer and business subscribers with EV-DO-enabled devices access to
numerous sophisticated data messaging, imaging, entertainment and location-based applications. We first
introduced EV-DO commercially in the second quarter 2005, and we will continue to expand our EV-DO
footprint to provide coverage to more people and markets in 2006.
We market wireless services provided on our iDEN network under two brand names: Nextel, for post-paid
wireless services, and Boost Mobile™, for prepaid wireless services. Both brands feature our industry-leading
walkie-talkie services, which give subscribers the ability to communicate instantly across the continental United
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