Another U.S. mobile phone carrier has announced definitive plans to commercially launch Internet access during the fourth quarter.
Code Division Multiple Access operator Sprint PCS said it has signed an agreement with Yahoo! Inc. to deliver Web content and services to Sprint PCS customers in the fourth quarter. U S West Wireless announced similar plans in May, while Nextel Communications Inc. in February said it will test Internet access in six Eastern markets during the fourth quarter.
“This is not a proprietary deal,” said Andrew Sukawaty, president and chief operating officer of Sprint PCS. “This is a second of a whole range of service providers we will use … We will announce more as we lead up to our data launch in the fourth quarter.”
Sprint PCS late last year teamed with Wireless Knowledge, a Qualcomm Inc. and Microsoft Corp. company aimed at providing an airlink-independent end-to-end architecture for secure wireless access to data and applications on any wireless device, network and enterprise system.
Sukawaty said Sprint PCS will target the service at business users and a wide range of consumer customers that are heavy Internet and e-mail users. He said the carrier will announce pricing options for the customized Internet access service when it launches.
The country’s largest personal communications services carrier late last month unveiled pricing plans and features aimed at the business user that include PCS-to-PCS calling minutes, off-network calling minutes and text-messaging services.
And following similar announcements from Microsoft and America Online to expand Internet access beyond the desktop, Yahoo! said it acquired Online Anywhere, whose services will enable Yahoo! to deliver content and services to non-PC devices such as pagers and data phones.
