The FCC granted Sprint PCS a partial waiver and extension of an u...

and released Mon., granted a 6-month extension of its Dec. 31, 2002, deadline for Sprint to ensure that 100% of all new wireless handsets activated were location-capable. Sprint would have had to meet that requirement for all new digital handsets by June 30. On Dec. 20, Sprint requested 6 more months beyond the Dec. 31 deadline “because of a sudden and unexpected drop in the sales of new handsets,” the FCC said. That meant Sprint and its distributors hadn’t cleared their stock of non-GPS enabled handsets as quickly as forecast and still held significant inventory at the end of 2002. Sprint told the FCC that as of Dec., it wasn’t buying any new phones that weren’t outfitted with GPS capabilities and that it and its distributors needed to sell remaining non-GPS phones to reach the 100% activation requirement. The carrier projected it would sell its remaining inventory by March 31 and its distributors would sell remaining stockpiles July 1. It told the FCC its requested extension to June 30 still was less than the same deadline extension the FCC already had granted to rival carriers, which had more time to meet the requirement in the first place. The FCC said Sprint’s original Dec. 31 deadline wasn’t the result of a previous waiver. “We also conclude that Sprint has adequately demonstrated that it took concrete steps necessary to come as close as reasonably possible to meeting the deadline,” it said. It said Sprint had met other E911 benchmarks, particularly those related to handsets. It also said Sprint took steps to increase sales of GPS-enabled handsets, including subsidizing their cost and “actively” promoting their sale in order to make them competitive with the non-GPS handsets that rivals still were selling. By the end of March, the FCC said Sprint had 15 million compliant handsets for sale and had sold more than 8.8 million.