Northern Technologies Lands Deal With Sprint Spectrum

Northern Technologies Inc. of Liberty Lake has landed a contract with Sprint Spectrum that will generate “tens of millions” in sales, Vice President Steve Smith said Tuesday.

The company will supply what Smith described as mini-power protection cabinets at every site where Sprint Spectrum locates a personal communications system antenna.

PCS is a second-generation cellular telephone technology capable of carrying more traffic on smaller but more closely-spaced antennas.

One will be built at Northern’s headquarters at 23123 E. Mission as part of Sprint Spectrum’s installation in Spokane.

Sprint Spectrum was the largest bidder for licenses - taking 32 - in a federal government auction conducted last year.

The company is owned by Sprint, Tele-Communications Group, Cox Communications and Comcast.

Smith said Northern Technologies will be the exclusive provider of surge-protection equipment to Sprint Spectrum.

“We’re hoping to expand that into international markets,” he said.

He said the local company’s equipment was selected because the system had been developed in conjunction with Sprint, a customer for the last six years.

Although Northern will manage the project, Smith noted that the cabinets will contain components from other manufacturers.

He said the agreement with Sprint Spectrum does not prevent Northern from selling the cabinets to other companies.

Northern, which employs 80, provides equipment to a variety of customers ranging from federal prisons to medical facilities, Smith said.

“We sell to people who absolutely can’t go down,” he said.

, DataTimes