Nextel Communications

Nextel Communications

References:

Nextel Communications, Inc. was a wireless service provider that later merged and became a subsidiary of Sprint Nextel Corporation that traces its roots to the 1987 foundation of FleetCall by Morgan O'Brien and Brian McAuley. FleetCall changed its name to Nextel Communications, Inc. in 1993. Nextel provided digital, wireless communications services, originally focusing on 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.

At the time of its 2005 merger with Sprint Communications, Nextel had over twenty million subscribers in the United States, and served 198 of the top 200 markets. Nextel Communications, Inc. offered post paid services under the Nextel brand and prepaid services under the Boost Mobile brand.

In late 2010, Sprint Nextel announced plans to decommission Nextel's iDEN network and on May 30, 2012, Sprint Nextel said that it would shut down the Nextel network as early as June 2013. Sprint Nextel will deploy CDMA equipment on the 800 MHz spectrum formerly used by the iDEN network. Sprint continues to offer pre-paid services under the Boost Mobile brand and will continue to offer push-to-talk services known as Sprint Direct Connect using CDMA equipment.