Sprint Putting New Network Plans on Back Burner

Voice over the Internet won't be the next big thing at Sprint (FON Quote), judging by rumblings from people who follow the long-distance phone service giant.

Sprint is preparing to pull back the broad rollout of its integrated on-demand network effort, dubbed ION, say analysts who were briefed by Sprint officials during a roadshow last week for a secondary offering by Sprint shareholders France Telecom(FTE Quote) and Deutsche Telekom (DT Quote). Threatening Sprint's 3-year-old dream of an all-in-one data-and-phone network is the grim reality that, as money has grown scarce in a slowing economy, stringing "last-mile" network access without the promise of an immediate payoff has become a costly extravagance. Sprint and other big telcos had staked ambitious growth plans on the prospect of marrying voice and data services, but now they are recoiling at the prospect of spending speculatively during an industrywide funding crunch.

As a result, Sprint is likely to reduce the $1 billion it planned to spend on ION this year, analysts say. For its part, Sprint says it will assess the project over 90 days, adding that it intends to fund ION where it sees a good chance of getting quick sales. ...