5 mobile companies ink massive deal with U.S. government

In what might go down as one of the biggest telecom contracts in history, the U.S. has just signed a massive deal with five major companies. Which five you ask? AT&T, Sprint/Nextel, Qwest Communications, Verizon, and Level 3 Communications. Looks like someone forgot to send poor T-Mobile an invite to the party. The five corporations all won bids to participate in the Networx Enterprise contract, ensuring that they would receive the majority of the government’s enterprise level business over the next 10 years. The contract will be worth up to $20 billion depending on specifics. The companies haven’t secured much beyond a seat at the table, as they will still have to compete amongst themselves for business from individual government agencies. Even so, this is a pretty big move, especially on the heels of the epic $48 billion Qwest/AT&T/Verizon – government agreement from March. Uncle Sam is on quite the mobile phone spending spree as of late. Sounds good to us.