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June 15, 2008

Late Friday, Sprint Nextel announced plans to launch a new walkie-talkie style service in 40 markets starting today.

Sprint’s new Direct Connect service is based on Qualcomm's Q-Chat technology and promises customers the same instant communication at the touch of a button.

However, Sprint's new service is based on CDMA technology rather than Nextel’s iDen network.

Kevin Packingham, senior v.p. of product and technology development for Sprint said “instant connections help customers get things done more efficiently, and these new phones allow us to continue to deliver on the gold standard of instant push-to-talk connectivity on the Now Network.”

“In addition to delivering on this instant connectivity, these new phones also add the speed of Sprint Mobile Broadband so that customers can do even more and faster,” he added.

Unlimited Direct Connect and Group Connect use is included at no additional charge in Everything plans starting at $69.99 per month, and Talk/Message/Direct Connect plans starting at $49.99 per month.

Unlimited Direct Connect and Group Connect will be available for $10 per month with other Sprint plans.

Along with the service announcement, Sprint also is launching four new Direct Connect handsets: the LX400 by LG, Z400 by Samsung and the PRO-200 and PRO-700 by Sanyo.

All four new handsets will be available today.

Sprint also said it wants take the difficulty out of calculating your wireless bill, saying its new pricing breaks down the planning to three simple steps: choose an individual plan for a single line or a share plan for multiple lines; choose voice only, voice with unlimited messaging, or voice with unlimited messaging and unlimited data; choose your number of minutes.

Along with updated Direct Connect services, Sprint also unveiled a series of simpler service pricing plans. The carrier said the new plans are based on the popularity of its $99 Simply Everything plan and will offer unlimited messaging for shared family plans.

For single line plans, voice-only services start at $39.99 a month for 450 anytime minutes, new unlimited data and messaging plans with 450 calling minutes start at $69.99.

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Source: Sprint Wireless.