Trucking Has Major Stake in Possible Nextel/Sprint Deal

The widely rumored merger of Nextel and Sprint could have a large impact on trucking. The two wireless companies will reportedly announce a deal this week.

More than any other wireless service, Nextel has courted business customers generally and trucking customer in particular. Nextel offers a well-stocked pantry of truck-oriented applications that run on its phone handsets. Many fleets use Nextel for both voice and data communication.
Currently, Nextel and Sprint use different technologies. Most observers guess that in a merger, Nextel will eventually abandon Motorola’s proprietary iDEN network in favor of Sprint’s CDMA (for Code Division Multiple Access) system. The consequences for fleets that have invested in technology for Nextel handsets remain unclear.
ALK Technologies, which recently introduced an application to provide drivers with turn-by-turn directions on Nextel handsets had no comment Monday. Neither did Xora Inc., which has developed an automated driver log application to run on GPS-equipped Nextel handsets. Prophesy Transportation Software, which launched a Nextel-based dispatch system this year, referred questions to Nextel.
However, Tom Weisz, president of TMW Systems, told truckinginfo.com he sees no immediate impact from a merger. “It will be at least a couple of years before the technology is merged,” he explained.
Weisz said he expects Sprint’s CDMA would support features required by TMW’s Nextel application.
“People will probably have to get new handsets in two or three years, but that's about the average life of a handset anyway,” said Weisz.
Stephan Karczag, vice president of sales and marketing for Cheetah Software Systems said his company isn't concerned about the merger.
“We run on any network,” he said of Cheetah’s handset-based trucking applications. “In fact, more handset options will be positive.”
However, Karczag pointed out that Nextel is currently the only network that provides GPS coordinates for use by handset-based applications, though the other wireless providers say they’ll introduce the feature in 2005.
“Of course, they said the same thing about 2004,” Karczag added.
Some trucking tech providers wonder aloud how a merged Nextel and Sprint will play out with Qualcomm, which competes with Nextel for trucking mobilecom customers, yet owns the CDMA technology expected to prevail in a merger.
Qualcomm issued this statement to Truckinginfo.com: "Qualcomm Wireless Business Solutions has valued its business relationship with Sprint for many years. As the service provider for Qualcomm's OmniExpress mobile communications solution, Sprint has played a pivotal role in the trucking & logistics industry. However, we cannot speculate on how our business may be impacted by a merger that has not yet been publicly announced."
Nextel had not returned a call for comment as of 9 pm EST Monday.
A Nextel/Sprint merger would reduce the major U.S. players in the wireless industry to just four -- Cingular (which is still digesting AT&T Wireless), Verizon, Sprint/Nextel and T-Mobile.
Some wireless industry observers say the Nextel/Sprint merger could be derailed with a last minute bid by U.K.-based Vodaphone to buy Nextel.