Multiple sources are reporting that Sprint Nextel has agreed to sell the Nextel iDEN network to the U.S. Department of Defense for an undisclosed amount. The DOD will use the network for a unified communications framework for military and civilian emergency personnel.

All customers currently on the Nextel iDEN network will receive new dual CDMA/iDEN handsets, and everyone will be migrated off the iDEN network by 2010, according to PCS Intel.

The United States of America has come to a fundamental conclusion about its national communications infrastructure post-9/11 in regards to homeland security; it’s broken. The Department of Defense, working with the FCC, DHS, the President, and Congress has brokered a framework agreement to purchase Sprint Nextel’s iDEN network as the first phase of a national overhaul of its security framework in regards to communication.

The plan is simple; everyone involved in securing this nation will be on the same network. This network will be using an encrypted iDEN sequence, ensuring that all soldiers, first responders, and chain of command will be able to contact each other. This is especially in the event of a series of disasters in concert (say, for example, multiple terrorist attacks in multiple major metropolitan areas simultaneously). — PCS Intel

Sprint Nextel is expected to gain spectrum from the deal which it will use in building out a WiMAX network.

This has some significant implications for homeland security. Finally, people from various agencies will be able to talk to each other, which as we all learned during Hurricane Katrina, is vitally necessary.