Sprint ordered to vacate airwaves

A federal appeals court ordered Sprint Nextel Corp. to meet a June 26 deadline to vacate airwaves it uses that are close to public safety agency networks.

Sprint, which has been losing customers amid service and network problems, offered instead to leave the channels in question within 60 days after each public-safety organization says it is ready to retune its system.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the deadline was reasonable, adding that the airwaves were plagued by interference problems stemming from an “incompatible mix” of systems.