Sprint To Shut Down iDEN Network

Sprint on Tuesday revealed plans to cease service on the iDEN Nextel National Network as early as June 30, 2013, as part of a broader network modernization strategy.

The nation’s third-largest wireless carrier plans to migrate business and government customers from its iDEN (2G) Nextel National Network onto its next-generation push-to-talk service named Sprint Direct Connect, which operates on its 3G CDMA network.  

Sprint said it will send written notices to business and government customers beginning June 1 in connection with the planned network shutdown.

The development is part of Sprint’s “Network Vision” to modernize its infrastructure and consolidate multiple network technologies into one seamless network.