US mobile firm Sprint has detailed what it will spend on upgrading its network and getting it ready for 3G services.

The big winners are Lucent, which gets $1.5bn over three years, Nortel, which gets $1bn and Motorola which picks up $450m. All three are existing Sprint suppliers but one industry analyst told Reuters that Motorola had increased its share of Sprint's budget.

The contracts cover new switching and radio hardware, software for cell sites and deployment of Sprint's Evolution, Data Optimized (EV-DO) technology. EV-DO will be available in "major US metro areas" during 2005 and provides peak data rates of 2.4Mbps

Kathy Walker, vice president of network services at Sprint, said business users and consumers would benefit from the network improvements. "Consumers will enjoy improved wireless capabilities such as high-speed video and audio streaming for entertainment content while business consumers will benefit from mobility data applications that improve productivity and collaboration in such areas as healthcare, insurance, security and professional services."

See this press release for more details. ®

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