Nokia today announced that Sprint Nextel has awarded it the four Texas markets of Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin for the initial build-out of Sprint Nextel's mobile WiMAX network.

Nokia will deploy WiMAX infrastructure, including the Nokia Flexi WiMAX Base Station, at sites throughout the four Texas markets, enabling Sprint Nextel to deliver wireless Internet broadband access to consumers, businesses and governments. Service is expected to commence in the Texas markets during the first half of 2008. Sprint Nextel's mobile WiMAX network intends to cover 100 million people nationwide by the end of 2008.

"Nokia's WiMAX solution provides Sprint Nextel a highly cost-effective network infrastructure solution for delivering broadband wireless Internet connectivity to its Texas customers," said Mark Louison, head of Nokia's Networks division in North America.  "Nokia has extensive experience in designing, deploying, and maintaining high quality networks in North America, and will apply best practices to ensure the highest level of service for Sprint Nextel's WiMAX customers.  We are confident in our ability to deploy the network on time in these markets in the first half of 2008." 

In addition to supplying Sprint Nextel with WiMAX network infrastructure, Nokia will also develop WiMAX-enabled mobile devices, including multimedia computers and Internet tablets, which are expected to be available in 2008.