New Sprint network to use Google

SAN FRANCISCO -- Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-biggest US mobile-phone company, said it will add Google Inc. search and mapping services to a planned high-speed wireless network.

Google will help Sprint develop ways for consumers and businesses to use mobile-location technology, offering customized searches or messaging services that take into account the user's whereabouts, said Barry West, Sprint's chief technology officer.

The agreement gives Reston, Va.-based Sprint the prestige of working with the most popular search engine, along with a source of revenue, West said. For Google, the deal brings a way to extend its search engine into the mobile-device market.

"Google is clearly an important partner, given its dominance of broadband and wired Internet search," Thomas J. Lee, a JPMorgan Securities Inc. analyst in New York, said in a note to clients yesterday.

West said Google will pay Sprint as part of the agreement, declining to be specific.

Sprint and Craig McCaw's Clearwire Corp. said last week they would use a technology called WiMax to build a wireless network that's more than five times faster than today's standard.

Shares of Sprint fell 77 cents to $20.89 in New York Stock Exchange trading. Kirkland, Wash.-based Clearwire gained 25 cents to $31.66 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Google, in Mountain View, Calif., fell $1.76 to $508.

WiMax networks have a wider range than current WiFi technology and can encompass entire cities, providing high-speed access to mobile phones and other gadgets. Sprint plans to start selling WiMax service in April.

Google's search and communications features, such as the Gmail e-mail service, will appear on the website that users visit when they access Sprint's WiMax network, West said. Wireless devices will use a version of that portal. Services based on the user's location also will be available on that site, West said.

Sprint won't limit users from accessing services from Google's competitors, West said.