Jan 1, 2006 12:00 PM, Donny Jackson

Sprint Nextel has launched Sprint Enterprise Mobility, a wholly owned subsidiary that will provide consulting services to enterprises trying to integrate myriad wireless services.

Sprint Enterprise Mobility President Bill Halbert said the new company would fill a niche comparable to the one IBM Global Services and other integration companies filled in the IT market more than a decade ago. Sprint Enterprise Mobility was created to help enterprises coordinate the myriad mobility offerings effectively, he said.

Sprint Enterprise Mobility initially will focus on Fortune 100 companies and large government entities.

Gareth Matthews, vice president of marketing and commercial activity for Sprint Enterprise Mobility, said the new company would focus on helping customers develop applications that work across all mobile platforms.

In other news, Sprint Nextel agreed to pay $6.5 billion to buy out the rest of Nextel Partners, the most significant of all the affiliates impacted by the merger of Sprint and Nextel earlier this year.

Several affiliates had threatened legal action after the announcement of the merger, which they claimed violated their exclusive rights. The most important of these affiliates was Nextel Partners, which not only owned network equipment but also considerable spectrum holdings, Precursor wireless analyst Rudy Baca said.

Sprint Nextel agreed to pay $28.50 per share for Nextel Partners, valuing the affiliate at more than $9 billion. Sprint Nextel already owned 31% of Nextel Partners.

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