Sprint PCS, Yahoo Reach Accord on Internet Services.

Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Jun. 3 -- Sprint PCS said Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with the country's No. 1 Internet search service, Yahoo Inc., to provide Yahoo Web content and services to its wireless subscribers by the fourth quarter of 1999.

Under the agreement, Sprint will deliver reformatted Yahoo services -- including e-mail, calendars, news, sports scores, weather and horoscopes -- over wireless telephone displays.

Company officials said that all new phones it sold would be ready to receive and display data, and that most customers would be able to upgrade their existing phones to get the services. Prices for the services have not been determined.

"Yahoo is one of a series of deals that we'll do for access to information," said Andrew Sukawaty, president of Sprint PCS. "This is the first step to open access to all services on the Internet."

All wireless providers are racing to bundle wireless data with their existing voice services. Most require substantial upgrades to their networks before they can offer data speeds that will be acceptable for regular users of wire-line Internet connections.

But by 2004, as technology improves and handheld devices get cheaper, more people could access the Internet by handheld mobile terminals than wire-line connections, according to the ARC Group, based in the United Kingdom.

In the meantime, most wireless companies are introducing short text messaging, headlines, e-mail and introductory content such as Yahoo.

Later this year, Sprint expects to introduce a service that will let customers access the Internet, corporate networks or their e-mail at speeds up to 14.4 kilobits per second by using their wireless phone as a standalone browser or a modem for their laptop or handheld device.

"People want to access a uniform set of data wherever they are," Sukawaty said. "This really says to PCS customers that their wireless devices can be used to access the Internet in a big way."

Visit The Kansas City Star, Mo., on the World Wide Web at http://www.kcstar.com/