Ring In the Holidays With Powerful Offerings From The "Best U.S. Mobile Music Carrier"

Listen to much more than just sleigh bells this season with the Sprint Music Store, now offering more than a million songs and over-the-computer purchases

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — 12/04/2006 - Sprint (NYSE: S) announced that today is “Music Day” as part of its “Twelve Days of Power Shopping,” a campaign to reveal the full power of Sprint’s network, products and services during the holiday shopping season. To commemorate the day, the Sprint Music Store(SM) is doubling the size of its song library to more than one million songs as the result of new independent music supplied by Groove Mobile and IODA. Also, in addition to the capability to purchase and download songs over the air on their mobile phones, customers can now purchase songs and other content directly from their computer via the new Sprint Digital Lounge(SM) (www.sprint.com/digitallounge).

Sprint was presented with the “Best U.S. Mobile Music Carrier” award at the recent 2006 Digital Music Conference. “Among all the carriers, Sprint has been at the forefront of trying something new – first master tones, first full-motion video, first full-track downloads and streaming. And based on this, it’s obvious Sprint comes out on top in the U.S. For music that people actually buy, Sprint has led where others follow,” said Mark Frieser, chair, Digital Music Conference.

The Sprint Music Store is available on several stocking-stuffer-ready phones. For example, the exclusive Sprint Power Vision FUSIC by LG features a built-in FM transmitter and the slim design of an MP3 player with external keys to play and skip between songs. The new Sprint Power Vision M1 by Sanyo offers one gigabyte of internal memory, which is ideal for storing large amounts of music and is available exclusively at www.sprint.com.

“The number of music phones sold this holiday season will greatly outnumber the number sold last year. We estimate the number of Americans that download music to their phones will almost double in 2007, to nearly 20 million, due in part to the growing interest in the ability to get and listen to new music, anywhere and anytime,” said Lewis Ward, industry analyst, IDC.*

Sprint offers music that appeals to everyone’s holiday wish list, including many exclusives not found anywhere else. The Sprint Music Store provides a full range of music genres from the more than 500,000 new independent songs as well as the more than 500,000 songs already available via EMI Music, SONY BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group.

Sprint was the first carrier in the United States to launch an over-the-air song-download service, the Sprint Music Store, in October 2005 via the industry’s most powerful network. Since then, Sprint has continued to lead with announcements of the most total song downloads, which now surpass 9 million.

Groove Mobile, which also powers the Sprint Music Store, is providing a roster of world-renowned musicians from its licensing agreements with influential independent labels and distribution companies such as The Orchard among others. Artists include Young MC, The Brand New Heavies, Simply Red, Max Romeo, U-Roy, Public Enemy and Ray Charles.

IODA’s song catalogue is derived from an extensive roster of more than 3,000 independent labels. Its list of many popular artists include Mac Dre, Blackalicious, Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, The London Symphony Orchestra, Jimi Hendrix, Fall Out Boy, Broken Social Scene, Cat Power, Aventura, Jamie Cullum, Heartland, Willie Nelson, Seu Jorge and Ravi Shankar.

The Sprint Digital Lounge is a Web site that allows customers to browse, preview and purchase content via a computer connection, including songs from the Sprint Music Store. Other available content includes: Ringers, Call Tones, Screen Savers, Themes, Games, Video Channels, GPS applications and more (such as applications for sports, email, instant messaging, dating, etc.).

The Sprint Digital Lounge offers a colorful rich interface that allows for easy navigation. It is offered as an additional option to finding content directly on Sprint phones. Additionally, for a unique holiday gift, Sprint customers can purchase certain content such as Ringers on the Sprint Digital Lounge and have it sent directly to another customer’s phone. Both current and prospective Sprint customers can drop by and jam at the Sprint Digital Lounge by visiting www.sprint.com/digitallounge. Sprint is also launching an online press kit today, www.sprint.com/musicpresskit, which offers an extensive overview to the media of Sprint’s leadership in mobile music. It includes links to recent press releases, images, a fact sheet and a timeline of firsts.

Sprint continues to show its music leadership in the industry with new compelling offerings and relationships, including:

* Sprint Power View, the industry’s first made-for-mobile video programming network, now offers exclusive music-focused shows such as “Quick Hits!” with news about the latest album releases and concert dates, “Bite Size Music News” with updates on music’s top personalities and happenings, and “10.2.1 Countdown” with a countdown of the week’s most popular songs and videos.
* Thousands of fans watched MANÁ, the first Latin band to break into a top-ten spot on the Billboard 200 and one of the hottest Mexican rock bands of all time, perform a live concert exclusively on select Sprint mobile phones on Nov. 28. The concert was also recorded and can be viewed exclusively on demand on select Sprint phones for the next three months.
* Multi-Platinum Capitol Records’ rapper Chingy recorded 123 versions of “Dem Jeans,” the latest single from his new album Hoodstar, for use as exclusive Ringers and Call Tones from Sprint. Each version substitutes a different woman’s name into the music and lyrics, so customers can have a personalized Ringer or Call Tone with their own name in it.
* Nielsen Mobile will now track sales information for downloads from the Sprint Music Store and Ringers, indicating the increasing value of mobile sales to the music industry. Nielsen Mobile compiles data from wireless carriers, aggregators and other mobile entertainment retailers.

The Sprint Music Store enables customers to browse, preview and purchase songs while on the go anywhere on the nationwide Sprint Power Vision network. Customers are able to receive two copies of the song – one for their phone and another for their PC. A pricing promotion for the Sprint Music Store runs until Jan. 13 that allows customers to buy two songs while Sprint provides a third song at no charge.

To use the Sprint Music Store, a data plan is recommended.** Certain Sprint offerings are designed for select Vision and Power Vision handsets.

About Sprint Music
Sprint continually provides wireless data services that are first, better and unique, and Sprint’s music offerings are a distinct example of this leadership. Sprint was the first U.S. mobile carrier to provide:

* a service that allows full-length songs to be downloaded over the air via the Sprint Music Store
* live streaming video and audio of a full-length rock concert (Bon Jovi) as well as a Latin rock concert (MANÁ)
* a made-for-mobile-video programming network, Sprint Power View, which includes several music-focused shows •
* streaming music and continues to provide exclusive streaming music channels, including Sprint Radio (powered by mSpot), SIRIUS Music and Rhapsody Radio video ringers, which play clips from music videos instead of a traditional ring
* ringers that sound like actual song recordings via Music Tones and to allow customers to create their own original ringers via ToneMaker DJ
* gold and platinum awards when artists’ albums sell 500,000 and one million Music Tones respectively

To learn more about Sprint’s music leadership, visit: www.sprint.com/musicpresskit.

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 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.

* Source: IDC, U.S. Wireless Music 2006-2010 Forecast and Analysis, Doc #201746, May 2006

** Casual data charges apply to downloads by customers who do not have a Power Vision data plan.

Contact Information

Aaron Radelet

Media Contact

Sprint Nextel

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