Sprint Responds to FCC Ruling on Wireline to Wireless Porting OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Sprint applauds the Federal Communications Commission for its decision issued today providing guidelines for the porting of phone numbers from wireline to wireless phones. Local number portability holds the promise to enhance consumer choice and improve competition, and today's action will ensure that the full benefits of portability will extend to landline customers as well. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001013/SPRINTLOGO ) With its local, long distance and wireless assets, Sprint is the best positioned company in the telecommunications industry to benefit from either those who elect to remain wireline customers or the growing trend of Americans who are cutting the cord. Compared with its wireless competitors, Sprint has a large customer base of tech savvy young adults, innovators who are abandoning their landlines altogether. According to the Yankee Group, 12 percent of adults aged 18 to 24 have cut the cord to go wireless and another 28 percent plan to do so in the next five years. As the November 24 deadline for availability of number porting approaches, Sprint and many wireless carriers already have reached agreements with each other to make the porting process easier. Wireline and wireless providers should be able to do the same so that consumers have true freedom to communicate in the manner that best suits them, with a phone number that stays the same. Sprint's Local Division is fully prepared to meet the requirements of today's ruling. Wireless companies have faced each other in a highly competitive market for years, and consumers have seen lower prices, innovative services and better features as a result. The FCC's move today sets the stage to make consumer choice and the competitive environment even stronger. About Sprint Sprint is a global integrated communications provider serving more than 26 million customers in over 100 countries. With approximately 70,000 employees worldwide and nearly $27 billion in annual revenues, Sprint is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying state-of-the-art network technologies, including the United States' first nationwide all-digital, fiber-optic network and an award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint provides local communications services in 39 states and the District of Columbia and operates the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.sprint.com/ . http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20001013/SPRINTLOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: Sprint CONTACT: Dan Wilinsky, +1-913-794-2967, , or Jennifer Walsh, +1-913-794-2950, , both of Sprint Web site: http://www.sprintpcs.com/

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