Black & Veatch part of Samsung's network upgrade plan for Sprint Nextel

Black & Veatch said it will collaborate with Samsung Telecommunications America on Sprint Nextel Corp.’s (S) network upgrade program. The program spans multiple states and will implement “Network Vision,” the next evolution of the Sprint Nextel network. Sprint Nextel has awarded contracts to Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson and Samsung to purchase hardware, software and network services to increase its network capabilities.
The total estimated incremental cost of the network vision program during the deployment period is between $4 billion and $5 billion. Sprint Nextel estimates the total net financial benefit for a seven-year period to be between $10 billion and $11 billion.
Black & Veatch will deliver site acquisition, architectural plans and engineering, project management and construction services to support Samsung on a multi-year infrastructure program to bolster voice quality, increase data speeds, aid network flexibility, lower operating costs, and increase environmental sustainability. The program comprises thousands of cell sites and includes plans for Samsung to deploy multi-mode base stations in markets from the Pacific Coast to the Great Lakes including San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Chicago and Pittsburgh.
Black & Veatch officials didn’t provide how much the contract with Samsung is worth, but its telecommunications division has quadrupled its revenue during the past three years from $63 million in 2007 to more than $300 million in 2010 and gone from 3% to 10% of all revenue within the company. Employees dedicated to telecommunications at the company have grown from 300 to 800 within the three years.