T-Mobile considers walkie-talkie phone

By Dana Cimilluca
Bloomberg News

T-Mobile USA Inc. may sell a telephone that doubles as a walkie-talkie, joining the growing number of mobile-phone companies trying to take business from Nextel Communications Inc.

Sprint Corp., the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier, yesterday said it will sell a phone that doubles as a walkie-talkie. Verizon Wireless also sells a walkie-talkie phone.

T-Mobile, the sixth-largest U.S. wireless company by subscribers, is considering a so-called push-to-talk product that would be aimed more at consumers than businesses, T-Mobile USA Chief Executive Officer Robert Dotson said at an analyst conference sponsored by UBS AG in New York.

"That is an opportunity we'll continue to look at in the next six months," Dotson said.

T-Mobile would be among the last of the top five U.S. carriers to unveil a walkie-talkie product to compete with Nextel, the biggest seller of push-to-talk calling.

The service, popular among public-safety officials and construction crews, lets users talk by pushing a button rather than dialing numbers.