Sprint Begins Transforming Phone Network
Posted on: Tuesday, 27 May 2003, 06:00 CDT
By AMY SHAFER
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Sprint Corp. announced Tuesday that it has begun transforming its telephone network so voice calls are transmitted in "packets" - the same way data moves over the Internet.
Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint said it was the first major telecom company in the country to begin the conversion. It launched the technology Tuesday in Gardner, Kan., where Sprint replaced its local switching network with packet technology.
Sprint plans to move half of its 8 million local lines from hard-wired circuits to a more flexible packet network in the next six years. Converting the entire network will take between 12 and 15 years, said Mike Fuller, president of Sprint's local telecom division.
The technology allows voice and data traffic to be broken into digital pieces that are sent separately across the network and reassembled upon arrival. The technology allows multiple phone calls and Internet connections to share the same line.
Fuller said the technology will make it be cheaper for Sprint to grow its network in the future and will enable the company to provide IP-based services.
"More than anything it keeps the customer and the communities that we serve at the leading edge of telecommunications," Fuller said.
Sprint signed a $1.1 billion deal with Nortel Networks in November 2001 for the first phase of the project. Nortel has provided the switch equipment and installation services.
"It's as significant a movement as going to a digital network a couple of decades ago," said Al Safarikas, Nortel's vice president for wireline marketing.
Safarikas called it "a key deployment" for Nortel because Sprint was the first major conversion. Other local phone providers are expected to do the same.
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