With most decent phones coming with contracts to the tune of 18 to 24 months these days, you have to be pretty damn sure that it’s definitely the N95 and not the iPhone you want when it comes to signing on that dotted line. Not however, if you are a US government official it seems.
It looks like the rule is, if you are a member of Joe/Jane public then an early termination fee is coming your way if you want to end that contract but if you are a US government official, you need not worry about it. That’s the line Sprint-Nextel is taking anyway, issuing the blunt statement that it has “ultimately decided against charging the fees to the government even though it charges the same fees to consumers and businesses.”
The Boy Genius Report is reporting that the decision was born of an investigation that started in 2004, back when the company was simply known as Nextel, about whether government contracts that ended before their pre-determined termination date were liable for early termination fees (ETFs). Nextel’s VP of marketing at the time hypothesized that “the government will never, never accept such penalty amounts”. Talk about your self fulfilling prophecies.
There’s been no real justification given for the decision making it all the less savory. Perhaps the US Government offered Sprint-Nextel Hawaii or something.
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