OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint Nextel Corp. officially announced plans to move forward with Qualcomm Inc.’s QChat push-to-talk service, which the carrier said will work across both its iDEN and CDMA2000 1x EV-DO Revision A networks.
The carrier currently uses iDEN technology to offer push-to-talk services to customers on the Nextel portion of its network. Sprint Nextel offers its ReadyLink PTT product for its CDMA customers, but is seen by most as inferior in performance to its iDEN offering. Sprint Nextel said it will use QChat to extend PTT services comparable to its iDEN service to customers on its EV-DO Rev. A network. The company said the QChat service also will provide interoperable push-to-talk service between users on both networks.
Qualcomm years ago announced plans to build its PTT product, QChat, with support from Nextel Communications Inc. Sprint Corp. subsequently acquired Nextel.
Sprint Nextel also announced Lucent Technologies Inc. will develop the necessary software and infrastructure required for QChat to work on its forthcoming Rev. A network.
Sprint Nextel said it plans to begin offering service using QChat in early 2008.
