Sprint Helps the Towing Industry Operate in High Gear

With advanced mobile technology, it’s about more than walkie-talkie and GPS solutions

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — 09/14/2006 - For more than five years, Sprint (NYSE: S) has helped towPartners, an industry association that provides a variety of value-added services for tow companies, and its more than 11,000 member companies and state associations realize the power of mobility solutions. The towing industry has benefited from utilizing rugged devices that operate on the Nextel National Network with GPS services to efficiently manage fleets and walkie-talkie solutions for easy communications between drivers and dispatch. Now more advanced technology allows them to wirelessly process credit card payments, track inventory and reroute trucks as needed to help towing companies further experience increased revenue and productivity.

Building on this long-term relationship, towPartners recently signed a contract with Sprint to allow its member companies to take advantage of Sprint Custom Network Solutions (CNS). Depending upon the location of a tow company or the way in which their facility is constructed, they may need enhanced in-building coverage so employees can easily access wireless voice and data services within the facility. This contract provides a turnkey process for tow companies to easily request and receive in-building solutions, which is critical since their primary means of communication is through wireless devices.

towPartners offers members discounts on the best products and services used by towing and road services. “The walkie-talkie, ruggedized handsets are popular with our members,” said Jeffrey Godwin, vice president, towPartners. “In our field, data accuracy and bar coding (for automobile identification and storage-yard inventory control) in real time is crucial. Credit card swiping is gaining acceptance as towing companies are trying to make it easier for their customers to pay, as well as method to reduce bad debt.”

Sprint also helped towPartners arrange a new discount program for members for Xora GPS applications. Xora and other GPS solutions enable towing companies to manage their fleets more efficiently through dispatching, asset tracking and routing a truck to a particular location. Tow companies also benefit from SMS/2way messaging which is often utilized for electronic dispatching through an application developed by towPartners parent company, towXchange. The TOPS dispatch and towing company management product from towXchange includes several data offerings designed for the Sprint Nextel network.

“The tow industry is quite sophisticated in their use of mobility solutions, and they were early adopters of walkie-talkie solutions,” said Carolyn Rehling, regional vice president of enterprise sales for Sprint. “Sprint admires how towPartners serves this industry. We look forward to continued collaboration as we seek more innovative solutions to help tow companies simplify their business.”

This relationship goes beyond technology to include an important human element of this business. Sprint contributes to the towPartners-supported Survivor Fund, a non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to family members who have lost a loved one who was killed on the job.

Sprint Nextel offers a Tier-1 IP backbone, robust wireless networks, national coverage and innovative products in voice, mobile data services and data applications. Sprint is the number one wireless provider of GPS solutions. Frost & Sullivan recognized Sprint with the 2005 Company of the Year Award in Location Based Services for excellence in successfully deploying and delivering location services and solutions. Sprint is also a leading provider of walkie-talkie services; in fact, the Nextel National Network carried more than 100 billion direct connect calls in 2005.

About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of communications services bringing mobility to consumer, business and government customers. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks offering 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 towPartners
towPartners is a division of towXchange, Inc. towPartners offers discount programs and other benefits to the towing and roadside industry as well as other, related industries. towPartners currently has over 11,000 members nationwide and is the primary benefits provider to the towing industry and to many industry associations and groups. towXchange delivers towing software applications and management solutions to the towing and automotive transportation industry as well as solutions for municipal towing, impound management and auctioning. For more information, visit www.towpartners.com.

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Stephanie Taliaferro

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Sprint Nextel

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