Sprint/Nextel merger casts doubt over iDEN's future

The future of Motorola's iDEN wireless standard grew dim this week in the wake of new details concerning the proposed merger of Sprint and Nextel Communications, the latter by far iDEN's biggest customer.

During its 2005 Investment Community Meeting Thursday, Sprint executives said that should the merger proceed as planned, the company will migrate all of Nextel's voice traffic onto Sprint's CDMA network by 2008, effectively spelling the end for Nextel's iDEN network.

Sprint executives had previously hinted the iDEN network would remain active post-merger, albeit in a limited capacity.

While CDMA's 20% market share has made the standard the subject of considerable research and development across the wireless industry, iDEN has languished by comparison, attracting few suitors outside of Nextel. In fact, the carrier alone generates 9% of sales and 13% of income for Motorola.

Upon the shuttering of Nextel's network, SouthernLinc Wireless--a rural provider serving about 300,000 subscribers in the southeastern U.S.--will become the nation's lone remaining iDEN-based operator.