As it prepares to spin off a local telecom company, Sprint Nextel Corp. today named the board of directors to oversee that business.

Their appointments will not become effective until the new division launches, a move that is expected to take place in the second quarter of this year.

Sprint has designated the following people to serve on the board: Peter C. Brown, chairman, president and CEO of AMC Entertainment Inc.; William A. Owens, former CEO of Nortel Networks Corp. and former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Dinesh C. Paliwal, chairman and CEO of ABB Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of ABB Ltd., and president of global markets and technology of ABB Ltd.; Stephanie M. Shern, a member of the board of directors for Sprint Nextel, and a former vice chairman and the global director of retail and consumer products for Ernst & Young LLP; and Daniel R. Hesse, CEO of Sprint Nextel Local Telecommunications Division.

All of the designees except for Hesse are independent directors. Hesse will serve as the president and CEO of the Sprint local company, and he is expected to serve as chairman of the board.

“These are impressive leaders we are designating to serve on the board of directors of the new local communications company, and their experiences position them well to play key roles in the evolution of the local communications business,” said Gary D. Forsee, president and CEO of Sprint Nextel.

Board members will be formally appointed when the new company separates from Sprint Nextel. They will be elected annually by the company’s stockholders.

When the local communications business launches, Sprint Nextel anticipates it will be a NYSE-listed company with approximately $6 billion in revenue, rank among the Fortune 500 and serve as the fifth-largest local communications company in the United States based on the company’s 7.4 million access lines as of Sept. 30, 2005.

The company will provide local and long-distance voice and data services, and high-speed Internet access. The company expects to have approximately 20,000 employees when it separates from Sprint Nextel.

Sprint Nextel    www.sprint.com