Sprint has announced that they have every intention of shutting down the Nextel network as early as June 30th, 2013, and when you put that in layman’s terms, it would translate to removing the service for its characteristic walkie-talkie-like range of Nextel handsets. Sprint did share before that the shutdown will start sometime in 2013, but failed to set a date beforehand. I guess with June 30th cited to be the earliest date now, it at least helps you prepare for life after Nextel, giving you at the very minimum one year to make all the necessary adjustments.
I guess Sprint really had no choice but to go ahead with this decision because ever since they picked up the Nextel network in 2005, the company has bled money each quarter without fail for the past four years, where they struggled with running a couple of incompatible wireless networks, burning through money instead. Approximately 5.4 million phones are currently active on the Nextel network, and most of them are owned by businesses or government agencies. [Press Release]
Filed in . Read more about Sprint.