U.S. telco Sprint Nextel appears to have decided now is not the time to try and flog its failing Nextel arm. Instead, the outfit said that it will extend its network partnership with Motorola and see if it can make it better.

In a press release, Sprint said that  Motorola, as part of an extended long-term partnership with Sprint, will continue to provide enhanced network and infrastructure support, such as software upgrades. This is the bit of Netel which offers push-to-talk features through Nextel Direct Connect.

Sprint said it will offer more handsets that use Nextel Direct Connect, when it launches the Motorola i576, and later this year the BlackBerry Curve 8350i smart phone.

Sprint want to launch eight new Nextel Direct Connect handsets in 2009, five in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, Sprint said it would refocus its prepaid business, called Boost Mobile, to compete for customers suffering in the weak economic environment. The company said it would offer a lower per-minute rate and other options.