Ford Selects Sprint to Replace Desk Phones with Mobile Devices and Mobilize Workforce

'Walkie talkie'-style Sprint PCS Ready Link(SM) service to enable greater mobility, flexibility for more than 8,000 employees

OVERLAND PARK, Kan., Jan. 24 -- Acting on its history of mobility innovation, Ford Motor Company today took steps to greatly increase the flexibility, mobility and productivity for key elements of its workforce. A new agreement with Sprint will free more than 8,000 Ford employees of their office phones, replacing them with wireless devices that will deliver virtually instantaneous wireless communications using the "walkie talkie"-style Sprint PCS Ready Link service.

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Ford's product development unit will be among the first to transition to the new wireless services. By shedding their desk phones, Ford employees can be more creative, interactive and effective by becoming more mobile.

"Ford is once again breaking new ground in enabling total mobility for critical members of its workforce," said Howard Janzen, president - Sprint Business Solutions. "These wirelessly empowered employees will be able to spend more productive time with the right people and in the right places, rather than behind a desk. We are bringing new speed, spontaneity and interaction to the Ford workplace wherever it may be and eliminating tethers to the traditional office phone."

Sprint PCS Ready Link is a nationwide wireless service that gives customers a fast, convenient way to communicate one-on-one or to groups of people at the push of a button. Ideal for short 'get in, get out' conversations, Sprint PCS Ready Link is an efficient and cost-effective way for Ford employees to communicate on site and from anywhere on the enhanced Sprint Nationwide PCS Network. Administratively, Ford can now easily manage a company directory, update account information and group lists, and push changes to the phones of employees via a Web-based administration portal.

About Sprint:

Sprint offers an extensive range of innovative communication products and solutions, including global IP, wireless, local and multiproduct bundles. A Fortune 100 company with more than $26 billion in annual revenues in 2003, 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; an award-winning Tier 1 Internet backbone; and the largest 100-percent digital, nationwide PCS wireless network in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.sprint.com/mr .

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