Sprint To Shut Down iDEN Network

By Josh Long

Sprint on Tuesday revealed plans to cease service on the iDEN Nextel National Network as early as June 30, 2013, as part of a broader network modernization strategy.

The nation’s third-largest wireless carrier plans to migrate business and government customers from its iDEN (2G) Nextel National Network onto its next-generation push-to-talk service named Sprint Direct Connect, which operates on its 3G CDMA network.  

Sprint said it will send written notices to business and government customers beginning June 1 in connection with the planned network shutdown.

The development is part of Sprint’s “Network Vision” to modernize its infrastructure and consolidate multiple network technologies into one seamless network.