Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sprint Nextel Corp., the third- largest U.S. wireless company, is ready to offer a phone based on Google Inc.’s Android operating system within a year.

“We believe in the vision for Android, so we want to see it get bigger and get healthy,” Kevin Packingham, Sprint’s vice president of products and devices, said yesterday in an interview. “We can, when the timing’s right, pull the trigger.”

Sprint executives are monitoring the progress of T-Mobile USA Inc.’s G1, a Google-powered phone introduced in October, and will work with chip companies and handset makers to develop a Sprint device, Packingham said. A Google phone would give Sprint, which has lost almost 3 million customers this year, a weapon to take on Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

Sprint, with 50.5 million customers, would be the largest U.S. carrier to adopt Google’s operating system. The G1, which costs $179 with a two-year contract, has a touch screen and runs games and applications created by independent software developers. Google is counting on Android to expand its share of the mobile advertising market.

Sprint, based in Overland Park, Kansas, fell 12 cents, or 4.7 percent, to $2.42 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock has dropped 82 percent this year.

Winning Customers

A high profile handset may help Sprint win back customers. Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse has struggled to attract new subscribers since taking the job a year ago. He’s introduced a new ad campaign and revamped customer service, tying employee bonuses to customer retention and requiring all managers to take responsibility for customer complaints.

Sprint may close as many as 20 call centers in 2009, Chief Service Officer Bob Johnson said in an interview this week.

Google formed the Open Handset Alliance last year to develop Android, and is working with T-Mobile and Sprint, chipmaker Intel Corp., and mobile-phone manufacturer Motorola Inc. Android also competes with Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Mobile in the market for smart phones, which let consumers surf the Web and check e-mail.

Google, owner of the most-used Internet search engine, said in a statement that it doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation about new products. The G1, made by Taoyuan, Taiwan-based HTC Corp., also lets customers use Google applications to get directions and read news.

For now, Sprint will focus on its partnership with Clearwire Corp. to build a wireless network that works on the WiMax standard.

Smart Phones

Smart-phone sales will double to 338.8 million units by 2012, according to Framingham, Massachusetts-based researcher IDC. A phone with Google’s software will help Sprint take a bigger share of that market, Packingham said.

“We’ve just got to make sure our customers are saying, ‘If you had a phone like this, man, I would really be more interested in Sprint because of it,’” Packingham said. “You want to go out with a bang because you believe that your investment is one that’s going to generate a lot of return with customers -- new customers. That’s what our shareholders are looking for.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Amy Thomson in Overland Park, Kansas, at athomson6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: December 10, 2008 16:08 EST