The company also announced substantial progress in restoring wireless service to New Orleans and other areas hard hit by Hurricane Katrina. While the levee flooding that resulted from Hurricane Rita will impede service restoration to parts of the Crescent City, service crews are hard at work with approximately 70 percent of wireless network services operational in the New Orleans market. Work on the wireless network is nearly complete in Mississippi, where the company has restored more than 95 percent of coverage.
In addition, the company announced today it would reopen retail stores in Slidell, Mandeville and Elmwood, La. to better serve customers who are returning to the New Orleans area. Some stores in Houston and Galveston, Tex., closed in anticipation of Hurricane Rita also will begin reopening today. For complete store listings visit www.sprint.com/hurricaneinfo.
Partnership with Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs) Ongoing
Sprint Nextel continues its ongoing partnership with local, state and federal authorities to restore service. Along with providing on-the-ground support to EOCs, Sprint Nextel's Emergency Response Team (ERT) has made available approximately 20,000 phones to local, state and federal emergency personnel in the affected areas since Hurricane Katrina's Gulf Coast landfall last month. This includes more than 10,500 Nextel phones enabled with Nextel Direct Talk(SM), the company's off-network walkie-talkie service. Nextel Direct Talk-enabled phones made communication possible for public safety workers working in and around New Orleans at a time when no cellular service from any provider was available. In addition, the team has provisioned an additional 6,900 Nextel and Sprint PCS phones for public safety to use in their response to Hurricane Rita.
Public Safety officials interested in requesting ERT assistance should call the Sprint Nextel Public Safety Call Center at (888) 639-0020 or 1-254-295-2220 for GETS users. Operators are available 24/7.
Sprint Nextel Focuses on Employees
Sprint Nextel has approximately 300 employees in the region of Southwest Louisiana and coastal Texas directly impacted by Hurricane Rita. On Saturday, the company began the process of contacting these employees via phone, email or text message to assess their physical safety and immediate needs.
Meanwhile, the company is continuing to assist 400 employees and their families impacted by Hurricane Katrina with as-needed emergency interest-free loans and 24/7 confidential counseling through its Employee Assistance Program. In addition, the company has temporarily reassigned evacuated employees to office sites in Texas, Arkansas and other areas of Louisiana.
In response to the devastation caused by the Gulf Coast hurricanes, Sprint Nextel has established the "Sprint We Care" emergency fund allowing employees to provide assistance directly for their colleagues' benefit. In addition, employees have set up a system to offer rent-free temporary housing to their teammates in their own homes or in vacant vacation or rental properties. This generosity is over and above the more than $6.5 million Sprint Nextel and its employees have raised and contributed through matching funds and other hurricane relief efforts.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services to consumer, business and government customers. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two robust wireless networks offering industry leading mobile data services; instant national and international walkie-talkie capabilities; and an award-winning and global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.
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