US operator Sprint Nextel is looking to rent the excess capacity on its network to makers of consumer gadgets, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The country’s third-largest operator is reportedly talking with companies such as navigation device maker Garmin, photography company Eastman Kodak and storage device maker SanDisk about delivering wireless Internet services for their products. Sprint would rent out its network and generally collect fees from manufacturers based on how much data is transmitted to the devices. Such a move would build on an existing agreement with Amazon, where it handles wireless book downloads for Amazon’s popular Kindle device.

The report notes that this new strategy is an attempt to drive diverse revenue streams as the operator tries to stem its large subscriber churn rate and return to profitability. Although wholesale subscribers provide less revenue than retail subscribers, Sprint would not have to worry about expenses for billing and customer service. “We’ll get the lion’s share of new products that need a cellular connection,” said chief executive Dan Hesse. The report adds that wholesale currently makes up about 3 percent of Sprint’s revenue and 16 percent of its total subscriber base of 49.3 million. Although Sprint’s overall subscribers have declined nearly 4 million since 2006, its number of wholesale subscribers has risen 27 percent to 8.1 million in the same period, fuelled by MVNO deals with the likes of Virgin Mobile USA.