What company was formed by the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel?

Sprint Nextel was formed by the 2005 merger of Sprint and Nextel.

Sprint announced its agreement to acquire Nextel in December 2004, and the transaction closed on August 12, 2005. The combination brought together Sprint’s nationwide wireless and long-distance businesses with Nextel’s business-focused network and distinctive push-to-talk service.

The resulting company was named Sprint Nextel Corporation and became one of the major wireless carriers in the United States. Nextel’s iDEN network and walkie-talkie-style service remained important for several years, although the company later concentrated on Sprint’s CDMA network.

Sprint Nextel is not the same company as T-Mobile US. In 2013, SoftBank acquired a majority stake in Sprint, and in 2020 T-Mobile completed its acquisition of Sprint. Those later events explain why the Sprint Nextel name eventually disappeared.