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Sprint to Offer Wireless Service for Hispanic Market

Posted on: Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 15:00 CST

Feb. 22--A new Miami company has cut a deal with Sprint Corp. and will offer wireless phone service to the Hispanic market in the U.S.

Movida Communications, Inc. will use the Sprint PCS network to become the first pay-as-you-go wireless phone company targeting the nation's 40 million Hispanics.

Movida also is partnering with Wal-Mart to sell handsets and pay-as-you-go service cards in some of the company's retail stores.

"Movida is about understanding Hispanic consumers and offering them products and services that help them stay connected -- both with their friends and family as well as their culture," said Anthony V. Montoya, Movida's president.

Movida's primary investor is The Cisneros Group, which produces Latin entertainment for radio and television in the U.S. and overseas.

"This is an exciting opportunity for the Cisneros Group since the rapidly growing U.S. Hispanic market has never been tapped by the major telecommunications providers," said Steven Bandel, president of The Cisneros Group.

Movido's phone services will be offered primarily in Spanish. The company plans to emphasize its Spanish-speaking role by greeting users with the phrase "for English, press two."

The deal is the latest in a series of "mobile virtual network operator" partnerships for Sprint. Virtual operators use Sprint's wireless network, but provide their own customer and billing services.

Sprint's most successful partnership is with the England's Virgin Group. Sprint and Virgin jointly own Virgin Mobile USA, which currently has more than 3 million customers in the U.S.. Sprint also has MVNO deals with Qwest Communications, ESPN and others.

"We're pleased to join forces with Movida to offer a uniquely different wireless experience for the growing Hispanic market," said John Garcia, senior vice president for sales and distribution for Sprint consumer solutions."

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(c) 2005, The Kansas City Star, Mo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

FON, WMT, Q, DIS,

Source: The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Missouri)

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