­Sprint has outlined plans for its migration of its Push-to-Talk services over to its CDMA network. The Sprint Direct Connect will launch with an initial portfolio of rugged devices from Motorola Mobility and Kyocera. The devices will feature most of the capabilities available on current Sprint Nextel iDEN based phones. The planned portfolio will include an ultra-rugged camera flip phone and an Android Smartphone with a touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard.

Sprint expects to deepen its push-to-talk portfolio by 2012, adding more devices with new form factors and features.

The devices are expected to enable group push-to-talk for up to 200 participants, Land Mobile Radio (LMR) interoperability, and availability notification. In early 2012, Sprint Direct Connect is expected to add more capabilities, including international push-to-talk.

In addition, the Push-to-talk coverage footprint is planned to increase to nearly 2.7 million square miles and is expected to cover a population of 309 million (with the addition of 1xrtt and roaming coverage) – an increase from the iDEN network’s 908,370 square miles covering a population 278 million.

During the nationwide implementation of Network Vision, Sprint expects to continue operating the iDEN network at current performance levels. As the customer base shifts to more broadband-centric push-to-talk applications on the CDMA network and Sprint launches Sprint Direct Connect, iDEN cell sites are expected to be phased out in 2013.

According to Paget Alves, President-Sprint Business, their customers are asking for broadband push-to-talk now. They’ve seen steadily increasing demand for faster data speeds, better and broader coverage, and more applications on push-to-talk devices. Sprint Direct Connect is designed to solve for all three, and is expected to come with sub-second push-to-talk call set-up time initially in Sprint CDMA RevA coverage areas. Sub-second call set up is expected to expand across the U.S. with the implementation of Network Vision.

Alves added, they believe the new push-to-talk service powered by a broadband network and featuring competitively priced rugged handsets and smart phones will represent an unmatched offering in the market.