NEW YORK — Sprint Nextel Corp. said it will start phasing out the Nextel part of its network in 2013, a decision that follows near-constant subscriber losses since Sprint bought Nextel in 2005. The shutdown should be complete in 2015. Sprint, the country’s third-largest wireless carrier, had said it would eventually shut down the aging Nextel network, but hadn’t said when until Monday.
Nextel’s signature feature is its fast push-to-talk function, which resembles a walkie-talkie. It once made Nextel popular with outdoor workers such as construction crews. However, the network doesn’t support fast data transfers, making it unsuitable for smart phones. Sprint plans to offer Nextel subscribers a push-to-talk function on the Sprint network instead.
