Suddenlink and Sprint Nextel Establish Wireline Telephony Services Relationship

Five-year agreement calls for Sprint Nextel to enable wireline VoIP solution to Suddenlink residential and commercial customers

RESTON, Va. and ST. LOUIS — 11/08/2006, Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) formally announced today a five-year agreement with Suddenlink Communications, the eighth-largest cable operator in the United States. The new contract awards Sprint Nextel the right to facilitate Suddenlink’s residential telephone service targeted to 2.2 million households in Suddenlink franchise areas, including approximately 30,000 existing residential voice subscribers migrating to the Sprint Nextel solution. Approximately 1,000 small business customers also will be migrated to the Sprint Nextel VoIP Network as a result of this transaction.

Sprint Nextel now serves cable companies with a cumulative reach of more than 30 million homes passed. Cable telephony service is available to customers across 1,200 rate centers and 22 states today and will expand to 43 states in 2007. The new five-year agreement marks Sprint Nextel’s continued expansion into the cable market, creating a revenue stream with strong growth potential. Sprint Nextel plans to continue to use its telecom assets and communications expertise to expand its delivery of telephony solutions to the cable industry.

“We are very pleased to be partnering with Sprint Nextel to expand telephone service across our footprint,” said Suddenlink Chief Executive Officer Jerry Kent. “Our customers are demanding the triple-play of television, Internet, and phone service – and this agreement puts us one step closer to responding to that demand.”

Kent said that phone service launches in 2007 will be announced on a market-by-market basis.

As part of the agreement, Sprint Nextel will carry local and long-distance traffic for Suddenlink residential and commercial customers and provide turnkey telephone services such as enhanced 911 services, network interconnection facilities, new and ported telephone number management, relay systems, directory assistance, operator services and a full suite of other local exchange carrier services. Digital phone calls begin on the Suddenlink managed network utilizing its softswitch architecture. All calls to consumers and businesses not served by Suddenlink will be completed over the Sprint Nextel nationwide network. From the customer’s perspective, their inbound and outbound calls will continue to be seamless and provide the same quality of service they would expect from their local telephone company.

“Our vision for the cable initiative, whether its wireline or wireless, is to deliver compelling, integrated services that provide unique value to customers,” said John Garcia, Sprint Nextel senior vice president of strategic partners. “This agreement with Suddenlink is illustrative of our company’s growing importance in the cable sector.”

About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks covering nearly 282 million people and serving more than 51 million customers at the end of third quarter 2006; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie capabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.

About Suddenlink
Suddenlink Communications is the eighth-largest U.S. operator of cable broadband systems, supporting the information, communication, and entertainment demands of approximately 1.4 million customers, more than 90 percent of which are located in eight states: Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri, and California. For the home and office, Suddenlink offers digital television, high-speed Internet, and phone services.

Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
A number of the matters discussed in this document that are not historical or current facts deal with potential future circumstances and developments, in particular, information regarding expected number subscribers served in future periods, revenues and the availability of products and services. The discussion of such matters is qualified by the inherent risks and uncertainties surrounding future expectations generally and also may materially differ from actual future experience involving any one or more of such matters. Such risks and uncertainties include: competitive conditions and market acceptance of Sprint Nextel’s products and services; costs and business risks associated with providing new services; economic conditions in targeted markets; performance of our technologies; timely development and delivery of new technologies; actions by regulatory agencies and the risks that have been described from time to time in Sprint Nextel’s reports filed with the SEC, including the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, as amended, and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed in 2006. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they were made, and Sprint Nextel has no intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

Contact Information

David Gunasegaram

Media Contact

Sprint Nextel

Contact via E-mail