Press Room

Telenav Press Release:

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Sept. 21, 2009 —The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is relying on Sprint (NYSE:S) to provide 2,000 Nextel handsets in support of FEMA’s nationwide vehicle tracking system. As part of an agreement signed earlier this year, Sprint is providing handsets equipped with industry-leading Nextel Direct Connect^® and TeleNav Track, a cell phone-based GPS navigation and tracking service. This powerful combination of technologies allows the agency do its job efficiently during an emergency by supporting quick deployment and effective management of its critical resources. The ability to set up anywhere and at any time is crucial for FEMA, especially when the agency is called upon to provide disaster support.

Several hundred of the 2,000 Motorola i365 phones are being used by FEMA employees and the rest are on standby and staged throughout the country,  ready to deploy in case of an emergency. For example, units have been staged in the Gulf Coast region throughout the hurricane season. All phones are prepackaged in a FEMA kit - a rugged pelican case that includes the handset, a car charger, a wall charger, a splitter and two batteries.

In addition to the devices, the Sprint solution also includes integration and project management services to ensure that the agency met its deadlines for setting up the vehicle tracking program before the hurricane season. After receiving the initial request, Sprint and TeleNav rapidly set up the entire program, including device configuration and testing.

“Interoperable communications and emergency preparedness have always been top priorities for Sprint, especially in wake of some of the recent natural and man-made disasters. Whether it’s the reliability of our network or support from the Sprint Emergency Response Team (ERT), we have always been ahead of our competition in supporting our customers including the federal agencies tasked with disaster preparedness and recovery,” said Bill White, vice president, Federal Programs at Sprint. “We take pride in serving FEMA with our voice and data services powered by Sprint’s Now Network™.”

While Nextel Direct Connect allows instant and seamless communication among FEMA personnel and interoperable communications with first responder and law enforcement agencies, TeleNav Track allows FEMA to monitor in near real-time the location of its mission-critical resources, including ambulances, buses and trucks. With geo-fencing, authorized FEMA personnel can also receive alerts if a tracked unit travels outside or inside a defined geographic boundary. A key enabler of this solution is the rugged Motorola i365 handset with an embedded GPS location system and advanced operating system.  The Motorola operating system includes features which automatically run the TeleNav Track application in the background on power-up, eliminating the need for any user interaction and preventing unauthorized changes to the application.

Sprint, whose Now Network was recently named most reliable 3G network in a 13-city test by PC World, serves FEMA through its newly formed Business Markets Group (BMG). Composed of more than 4,000 sales, support, marketing and operations personnel, Sprint’s BMG is dedicated solely to enterprise, general business and public sector customers. BMG delivers wireless, wireline and converged solutions for companies, drawing on the nation’s most dependable 3G mobile broadband network,*  4G capabilities that are well ahead of Sprint’s competition, the fastest national push-to-talk network,** and a comprehensive solutions portfolio of devices and applications.

Sprint offers the following hurricane preparedness tips, pandemic flu tips for businesses and consumers. To learn more, click on this link to watch a Sprint executive speaking about Sprint’s pandemic planning and preparations tips for businesses and general consumers.

For more information on Sprint business solutions, visit www.sprint.com/business or contact your Sprint account team. For more information on Sprint ERT, visit www.sprint.com/ert

*”Dependable” based on independent, third-party drive tests for 3G data connection success, session reliability and signal strength for the 50 most populous markets, January 2008 – February 2009.  Not all services available on 3G and coverage may default to separate network when 3G unavailable.

**“Fastest” based on initial call set-up time. 

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About TeleNav

Telenav's mission is to help make people's lives easier, less stressful, more fun, and more productive while they are on the go. Our personalized navigation services help people make faster and smarter daily decisions about where to go, when to leave, how to get there, and what to do when they arrive. More than 30 million people worldwide already connect with our services from mobile phones, tablets, computers, cars, and developer applications.

We aim to be everywhere people need us. Our partners are wireless carriers, automobile manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), app developers, advertisers and agencies, as well as enterprises large and small. Our partners include AT&T, Bell Mobility, Boost Mobile, China Mobile, Ford, NII Holdings, QNX Software Systems, Rogers, Sony, Sprint Nextel, Telcel, T-Mobile UK, T-Mobile US, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Vivo Brazil. You can also find us in mobile app stores and on the web at www.telenav.com and www.scout.me.

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About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving almost 49 million customers at the end of the second quarter of 2009; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. The company’s customer-focused strategy has led to improved first call resolution and customer care satisfaction scores. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.