Sprint "Knocking the Socks off the Competition" According to Nemertes 2009 Pilothouse Award for MPLS Services

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Sprint (NYSE: S) announced today that it received top honors in the Nemertes 2009 Pilothouse awards for MPLS Services. Sprint ranked highest overall and won top honors in each evaluation category -- value, customer service, and technology. Sprint also beat chief rivals, AT&T and Verizon in IP network reliability.

In the Nemertes report, Sprint's performance this year is characterized as "exceptional and a new high-water mark...for all other MPLS services providers...One reason Sprint rates highly on technology is the breadth of connection options for xDSL to 10 Gigabit/s and even wireless via [its] Data Link [for Wireless WAN service]."

The report added that Sprint "surpasses almost all other providers with seven classes of service (COS) supporting all MPLS service offerings...The bottom line is it's very clear that Sprint has...kept its eye on the customer; knocking the socks off the competition."

"Deploying and managing a MPLS network is a big undertaking," says Katherine Trost, research analyst, Nemertes Research. "The underlying technology is complex and orchestration of delivering high-quality service takes an organization with excellent coordination of customer service, and reliability. Our benchmark participants have singled out Sprint, and its rise to the top is impressive, as it dominates in all rating categories."

For the past two years, Nemertes Research has asked IT decision-makers to rate their MPLS-service providers. This year's project includes 1,393 total participants. IT practitioners rated their providers on a 1- to 5-scale in the following areas: Value, customer service, technology, and network reliability. What makes this project so different from any other research available? The results are based 100% on the experiences of network decision-makers. Nemertes' staff determines the methodology, conducts the research and analyzes the findings. But they have no influence over how any given vendor performs; that rests with their customers. In addition, no vendors sponsor this research.

"We're honored to receive this award from Nemertes," said Paget Alves, president of Business Markets Group, Sprint. "It validates what our business customers have been telling us - our MPLS capabilities are world class, high-value, consistently reliable, and backed by the best customer service." He added, "MPLS is the core of our convergence strategy, enabling voice, video and data via a single IP connection so businesses can reduce costs, improve employee productivity and streamline their network. MPLS also offers a flexible network foundation that scales for growth and allows for easier adoption of next generation technologies including Unified Communications."

Sprint Global MPLS is integral to Sprint's strategy to enable IP convergence leveraging the company's wireless and wireline network assets. Sprint Global MPLS provides greater service flexibility with real-time class of service offered free of charge, industry-leading Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and 3G/4G wireless access options for fixed and mobile users. Through a combination of its own facilities-based footprint and strategic partner Network-to-Network Interfaces (NNIs), Sprint Global MPLS reaches 165 countries worldwide.

Sprint Global MPLS combined with SIP Trunking and Mobile Integration is the foundation for enabling unified communications solutions. In May, Sprint announced how it is collaborating with industry leaders to enable unified communications to help businesses and government agencies increase productivity and customer satisfaction while driving down costs. Unified communications solutions integrate day-to-day communication tools such as e-mail, voice mail, instant messaging, calendars, fax, and audio/video conferencing into a single platform and a common user experience.

Sprint Global MPLS is available through its Business Markets Group (BMG), which is composed of more than 4,000 sales, support, marketing and operations personnel solely dedicated to enterprise, small and medium-sized business and public sector customers. BMG delivers wireless, wireline and converged solutions for companies, drawing on the nation's most dependable 3G mobile broadband network,* 4G capabilities that are well ahead of Sprint's competition, the fastest national push-to-talk network,** and a comprehensive solutions portfolio of devices and applications.

For more information on Sprint MPLS and converged solutions, visit www.sprint.com/convergence or contact your Sprint account team. To join in the latest discussions and learn more about business solutions available through wireline convergence, visit the Seamless Enterprise at www.seamlessenterprise.com.

ABOUT SPRINT NEXTEL

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving more than 48 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2009 and the first and only 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The company's customer-focused strategy has led to improved first call resolution and customer care satisfaction scores. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

*"Dependable" based on independent, third-party drive tests for 3G data connection success, session reliability and signal strength for the top 50 most populous US markets (including Puerto Rico) from January 2008 to July 2009. Not all services available on 3G and coverage may default to separate network when 3G unavailable.

** "Fastest" based on initial call setup time.

Sprint
Stephanie Greenwood, 913-315-1612
Stephanie.greenwood@sprint.com