Nextel | |
Formerly | FleetCall (1987–1993) |
Company type | Public |
| |
Industry |
|
Predecessor | |
Founded | 1987FleetCall) | (as
Founders |
|
Defunct | June 12, 2013 |
Fate | Merged with Sprint Corporation |
Successor | |
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | Corporate Office, Regional Offices, Call Centers and Network Locations Nextel Communications had a significant presence across various locations, including regional offices, call centers, and retail locations: Contents
Corporate Office: The corporate headquarters was located at 12502 Sunrise Valley Dr, Reston, VA. Regional Offices: Nextel had regional offices across the United States to manage operations and support local markets. Call Centers: The company operated multiple call centers to handle customer service and support. Network Operations: Nextel’s network operations were managed from various strategic locations to ensure robust and reliable service. International Locations Nextel Communications also had a notable international presence through its subsidiary, NII Holdings, which operated under the Nextel brand in several Latin American countries: Argentina: Nextel Argentina provided mobile communication services until its operations were sold. Brazil: Nextel Brazil operated 3G UMTS/HSDPA and 4G LTE networks and also maintained an iDEN network until its shutdown in 2018. Chile: Nextel Chile offered services until its operations were sold. Mexico: Nextel Mexico was part of NII Holdings until it was acquired by AT&T in 2016. Peru: Nextel Peru provided services until its operations were sold. Philippines: Nextel also had operations in the Philippines under NII Holdings. Number of Retail Locations Nextel’s retail presence grew significantly over the years: 1,300 (2005) 1,200 (2004) 1,100 (2003) 1,000 (2002) 900 (2001) 800 (2000) 700 (1999) 600 (1998) 500 (1997) 400 (1996) 300 (1995) These locations included stores and outlets where customers could purchase devices, plans, and receive customer support. |
Area served |
|
Key people |
|
Products |
|
Production output |
|
Brands |
|
Services |
|
Revenue | |
Total assets | |
Total equity | |
Owner |
|
Number of employees |
|
Parent |
|
Subsidiaries |
|
Website | nextel |
Footnotes /references [1] [2] |
Nextel Communications, Inc. was an American wireless service operator that merged with and ceased to exist as a subsidiary of Sprint Corporation, which would later be bought by T-Mobile US and folded into that company. Nextel in Brazil, and formerly in Argentina, Chile, Peru, the Philippines, and Mexico, [4] is part of NII Holdings, a stand-alone, publicly traded company not owned by Sprint Corporation.
Nextel Communications traces its roots to the 1987 foundation of FleetCall by Morgan O'Brien, Brian McAuley, Chris Rogers, and Peter Reinheimer. FleetCall changed its name to Nextel Communications, Inc. in 1993. Nextel provided digital, wireless communications services, originally focusing on the fleet and dispatch customers, but later marketed to all potential wireless customers. Nextel's network operated in the 800-MHz Specialized Mobile Radio band and used iDEN technology developed by Motorola. Nextel's iDEN network offered a then unique push-to-talk "walkie-talkie" feature in addition to direct-dialed voice calls. Nextel was one of the first providers in the United States to offer a national digital cellular coverage footprint.
Prior to merging with Sprint Corporation in 2005, Nextel Communications, Inc. was a publicly traded company. Shares traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol NXTL. Nextel was headquartered in Reston, Virginia, United States. [2]
At the time of its 2005 merger with Sprint Corp., Nextel had over twenty million subscribers in the United States and served 198 of the top 200 markets. Nextel Communications, Inc. offered postpaid services under the Nextel brand and prepaid services under the Boost Mobile brand.
In late 2010, Sprint Nextel announced plans to decommission the Nextel iDEN network; on May 30, 2012, Sprint Nextel announced that it would shut down the Nextel network as early as June 2013. [5] The Nextel network was officially shut down at 12:01am on June 30, 2013, and Sprint began the process of deploying LTE equipment on the 800 MHz spectrum formerly used by the iDEN network.
Before the acquisition by T-Mobile US, Sprint Corporation continued to offer pre-paid services under the Boost Mobile brand and also offered push-to-talk services as Sprint Direct Connect using CDMA equipment.
In April of 1987, telecommunication lawyers Morgan E. O’Brien and Chris Rogers, along with investment bankers Brian McAuley and Peter Reinheimer, founded FleetCall. [6] The company was established with a vision to revolutionize the wireless communication industry by utilizing the 800 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio frequencies, which were originally designated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for fleet dispatch services.
The name “FleetCall” was chosen to reflect the company’s initial focus on fleet dispatch communication. The founders’ innovative business model involved acquiring these fleet dispatch frequencies from existing operators at a significantly lower cost compared to the prices of equivalent bandwidth available through FCC auctions. This strategic move allowed FleetCall to offer a consumer and business wireless voice telephone service using Motorola’s Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) technology. Despite initial skepticism about the practicality of iDEN technology, FleetCall’s founders were determined to make it work.
In 1993, FleetCall rebranded itself as Nextel Communications, marking a new chapter in its journey. The rebranding coincided with the company’s expansion and the introduction of new services. By 1995, Nextel had attracted significant investment from wireless industry pioneer Craig McCaw, further solidifying its position in the market.
Craig McCaw, a renowned figure in the telecommunications industry, played a pivotal role in Nextel’s growth. Following the sale of his company, McCaw Cellular, to AT&T for $11.5 billion in 1994, McCaw turned his attention to Nextel, which was struggling at the time. By April 1995, McCaw had gained effective control of Nextel, investing alongside his brothers to revitalize the company. His investment and strategic vision were instrumental in transforming Nextel into one of the leading wireless service providers in the United States.
Initially, FleetCall was hesitant to include the push-to-talk feature in their phones. However, the FCC mandated its inclusion as the initial frequencies were licensed for dispatch use. This feature, which allowed users to communicate instantly at the push of a button, later became a key marketing advantage for Nextel. The push-to-talk functionality set Nextel apart from its competitors and became synonymous with the brand.
Nextel’s innovative approach and strategic decisions, bolstered by McCaw’s leadership and investment, helped it grow into a major player in the wireless communication industry, paving the way for future advancements and setting a high standard for mobile communication services.
Nextel Communications significantly impacted the cellular phone market through a series of groundbreaking innovations and technologies. These advancements not only set Nextel apart from its competitors but also paved the way for future developments in the telecommunications industry. Below are some of the key innovations and technologies introduced by Nextel:
The leadership team at Nextel significantly influenced the company’s culture, fostering an environment of innovation, customer focus, and strategic growth:
Overall, these strategies helped Nextel grow rapidly and establish itself as a major player in the telecommunications industry. The company’s commitment to innovation, customer focus, and strategic leadership were key drivers of its success.
Nextel had a long-standing partnership with Motorola, working closely on both equipment and standards. This collaboration led to the development of the Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) protocol, which uses time-division multiple access (TDMA) technology. Here are some key aspects of iDEN and its impact:
Nextel gained a significant marketing and technological advantage through its push-to-talk technology:
In 2003, prior to its merger with Sprint, Nextel announced plans for its next generation 3G network using an extension to iDEN called WiDEN, developed by Motorola:
These technological advancements and strategic decisions helped Nextel maintain a competitive edge in the telecommunications industry, driving its growth and market presence.
These events highlight the significant milestones and strategic decisions that shaped the trajectory of Sprint Nextel Corporation following the merger.
1: “AT&T Completes Acquisition of Nextel Mexico” (Press release). AT&T. Retrieved 2016-06-14. 3: “Sprint Corporation - Wikipedia”. Retrieved 2024-12-23. 2: “Press Release - SEC.gov”. Retrieved 2024-12-23.
Due to many underlying maintenance and life cycle issues within the legacy public safety systems of the United States, co-channel interference was a common occurrence within 800 MHz band. To resolve the problems, Nextel and the Federal Communications Commission developed a plan, approved by the FCC in August 2004, to relocate Nextel systems elsewhere in the 800 MHz band in order to reduce the potential for interference. [7]
Before rebanding, public safety organizations, business and industry organizations, and SMRs/ESMRs both operated in the 851-861 MHz range. ESMRs had exclusive use of the 861-866 MHz range, and public safety organizations had exclusive use of the 866-869 MHz range.
During the rebanding process, the following occurred:
After rebanding, public safety organizations and critical infrastructure institutions obtained the exclusive use of 851-854 MHz. ESMR systems (primarily Nextel) were given exclusive use of 862-869 MHz range, and public safety, business/industrial users, and low-power SMRs shared the 854-862 MHz spectrum. 860-861 MHz is designated as an "Expansion Band", and 861-862 MHz is designated as a "Guard Band". No licensees other than ESMR are required to relocate to channels above 860 MHz.
The use of contiguous spectrum allows for simple filters to be installed to protect public safety radio systems from interference, which is currently impossible under the existing mixed allocations in the 800 MHz band.
Nextel (Sprint) paid for much of the cost of this reconfiguration, but in compensation for lost 800 MHz spectrum, the company received spectrum in the 2 GHz band at 1910–1915/1990–1995 MHz. This spectrum was located near the existing Sprint PCS allocations and can be used to expand the number of channels available for that service, without needing to bid for additional capacity in a spectrum auction. [8] [9] [10]
Nextel was a major sponsor of the now defunct ChampCar team PacWest Racing, owned by Bruce McCaw, brother of Craig McCaw. This sponsorship helped Nextel gain visibility in the motorsports community and align its brand with high-performance and innovation.
On June 19, 2003, Nextel and NASCAR announced a sponsorship agreement to rename NASCAR’s top racing series to the Nextel Cup Series beginning in 2004. This sponsorship replaced R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s Winston brand, which had been the title sponsor for 33 seasons. In 2008, the series was renamed the Sprint Cup Series due to Sprint Nextel’s plan to phase out the Nextel brand name, with the name lasting until the end of the 2016 season.
A personal communications service (PCS) is set of communications capabilities that provide a combination of terminal mobility, personal mobility, and service profile management. This class of services comprises several types of wireless voice or wireless data communications systems, typically incorporating digital technology, providing services similar to advanced cellular mobile or paging services. In addition, PCS can also be used to provide other wireless communications services, including services that allow people to place and receive communications while away from their home or office, as well as wireless communications to homes, office buildings and other fixed locations. Described in more commercial terms, PCS is a generation of wireless cellular-phone technology, that combines a range of features and services surpassing those available in analogue- and first-generation (2G) digital-cellular phone systems, providing a user with an all-in-one wireless phone, paging, messaging, and data service.
T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic, Poland and the United States.
Integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN) is a mobile telecommunications technology, developed by Motorola, which provides its users the benefits of a trunked radio and a cellular telephone. It was called the first mobile social network by many technology industry analysts. iDEN places more users in a given spectral space, compared to analog cellular and two-way radio systems, by using speech compression and time-division multiple access (TDMA).
Craig McCaw is an American businessman and entrepreneur, a pioneer in the cellular phone industry. He is the founder of McCaw Cellular and Clearwire Corporation.
AT&T Mobility, LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the third largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 116 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024.
AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., formerly part of AT&T Corporation, was a wireless telephone carrier founded in 1987 in the United States, based in Redmond, Washington, and later traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol "AWE", as a separate entity from its former parent.
Rogers Wireless Inc. is a Canadian mobile network operator headquartered in Toronto, providing service nationally throughout Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The company had revenues of just under $15.1 billion in 2018. Rogers Wireless is the largest wireless carrier in Canada, with 13.7 million subscribers as of Q2 2023.
Virgin Mobile USA was a no-contract Mobile Virtual Network Operator. It used Sprint's network for coverage. It licensed the Virgin Mobile brand from United Kingdom-based Virgin Group. Virgin Mobile USA was headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and provided service to approximately 6 million customers.
Alltel was a landline, wireless and general telecommunications services provider, primarily based in the United States. Before its wireless division was acquired by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, Alltel provided cellular service to 34 states and had approximately 13 million subscribers. As a regulatory condition of the acquisition by Verizon, a small portion of Alltel was spun off and continued to operate under the same name in six states, mostly in rural areas. Following the merger, Alltel remained the ninth largest wireless telecommunications company in the United States, with approximately 800,000 customers. On January 22, 2013, AT&T announced they were acquiring what remained of Alltel from Atlantic Tele-Network for $780 million in cash.
Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before being acquired by T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. The company also offered wireless voice, messaging, and broadband services through its various subsidiaries under the Boost Mobile and Open Mobile brands and wholesale access to its wireless networks to mobile virtual network operators.
MOTO Talk is a feature on some Motorola iDEN cellular phone handsets which allows users to make short-range 'push-to-talk' calls to other such handsets without being on the iDEN network. This feature goes by different names on iDEN service providers. In the US, Nextel called it 'DirectTalk' and included it as a free service on most new models of Motorola handsets. Boost Mobile disabled the function via handset software settings. SouthernLINC calls it LINCaround and ships handsets with the feature disabled. It can be enabled after paying an activation fee of $20. In Canada, TELUS calls it "Mike's Talk-Around."
Embarq Corporation was the largest independent local exchange carrier in the United States, serving customers in 18 states and providing local, long-distance, high-speed data and wireless services to residential and business customers. It had been formerly the local telephone division (LTD) of Sprint Nextel until 2006, when it was spun off as an independent company. Embarq produced more than $6 billion in revenues annually, and had approximately 18,000 employees. It was based in Overland Park, Kansas.
Smith Micro Software, Inc., founded in 1982 by William W. Smith, Jr., is a developer and marketer of both enterprise and consumer-level software and services. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Smith Micro maintains multiple domestic and international offices. United States locations include Aliso Viejo, California, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. International offices are located throughout Europe and Asia. Currently, the company focuses on digital lifestyle solutions and security technologies, and is integrated into the evolving wireless media industry, as indicated by partnerships with cellular service providers such as Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint Corporation, now owned by T-Mobile US after the Sprint & T-Mobile merger in April 2020.
Clearwire Corporation was a telecommunications operator which provided mobile and fixed wireless broadband communications services to retail and wholesale customers in the United States, Belgium, Ireland and Spain. Clearwire traces its roots to 1998, when Sierra Technologies, Inc., spun off certain assets to form a new company, Clearwire Technologies Inc. In October 2003, Craig McCaw purchased Clearwire Technologies, Inc. parent company Clearwire Holdings and moved the company headquarters to Kirkland, Washington. In 2012, Clearwire moved the company headquarters to Bellevue, Washington.
Helio, Inc. is a former, mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) using Sprint's network that offered wireless voice, messaging and data products and services to customers in the continental United States beginning on May 2, 2006. Originally a 50/50 joint venture founded in January, 2005 between South Korean wireless operator SK Telecom and American Internet services provider EarthLink, early losses caused EarthLink to stop providing additional funding in fall of 2007. SK Telecom provided the required additional funding to sustain Helio, which was re-organized as Helio LLC, and by January 2008, SK Telecom had assumed an increased ownership stake and with it, operational control of the joint venture. Although SK Telecom publicly pledged to support Helio, SK Telecom entered into talks to sell the company to rival MVNO Virgin Mobile USA. Virgin Mobile USA closed the acquisition of Helio and its 170,000 subscribers on August 22, 2008. Virgin Mobile USA exited the postpaid wireless business and retired the Helio brand on May 25, 2010.
Velocita Wireless is a national wireless-telecommunications service provider that is based in Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States. Known by several names over the years, Velocita Wireless has been in existence for over 17 years as the operator of the Mobitex network in the United States. Previously known as Cingular Interactive, L.P., BellSouth Wireless Data and prior to that RAM Mobile Data, Velocita Wireless carved a market for itself with the acquisition of the Mobitex network from Cingular and rebranding itself overall as Velocita in 2004.
PowerSource, or "hybrid" phones, are specialized cellular devices used by customers of the American telecommunications company Sprint Nextel. They are distinct from other mobile phones in that they make use of two cellular networks instead of a single one, integrating the legacy Nextel network with the higher-capacity, higher-speed Sprint network.
T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. Its largest shareholder is Deutsche Telekom, a company that operates telecommunications networks in several other countries. T-Mobile is the second largest wireless carrier in the United States, with 127.5 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024.
Clearnet was a division of Telus Mobility launched in April 2011 to sell landline and mobile phone bundles in Western Canada. It was a revival of the Clearnet Communications brand name, which originally belonged to an independent cellular provider that was merged into Telus Mobility in 2000. Telus relaunched Clearnet as a discount provider with a "limited market trial" in Kelowna, British Columbia and Red Deer, Alberta.
DISH Wireless L.L.C., doing business as Boost Mobile, is an American telecommunications company and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. Boost Mobile is the fourth largest wireless carrier in the United States. Together with its sister brands Gen Mobile and Ting Mobile, it serves 7 million subscribers as of September 30, 2024.