Kansas City, Mo. ? Looking to improve its position in the tight “push to talk” market, Sprint Corp. will announce today it is lowering the price of its PCS Ready Link service.

The Overland Park, Kan.-based company, which said it had signed up 275,000 customers for the nationwide walkie-talkie product since unveiling it in November, said customers wanting to add Ready Link to their existing service would now pay $10 per month, down from $15.

In addition, the company said it was releasing a Ready Link-equipped phone next week costing less than half of the comparable product offered by competitor Verizon Wireless.

The Sanyo RL-4920, which includes a color screen equipped for Sprint’s PCS Vision online service, would cost $69.99 after rebates. Verizon’s comparable V60p, made by Motorola, retails for $199.99.

Company officials said the price cuts would help penetrate the consumer market, which has less experience with the service than industries such as construction, landscaping and personal service.

“We’re pleased with the result so far,” said Jim Hallock, vice president of consumer marketing. “The timing is right for seeding the market and building the right base of customers, and we see this as adding fuel to the fire.”

Verizon, which rolled out its own service last year, declined to say how many customers it had, but analysts said the numbers compared with Sprint’s.

Both companies, however, still lag far behind industry leader Nextel Communications, which provides its Direct Connect service to all 12.9 million of its customers. The Nextel phones, which are marketed largely to business customers, are also considered technologically superior, providing less delay between transmissions.

“I still don’t think (Sprint is) on par with what Nextel has because they’ve been doing it longer,” said James Breen, a Boston-based analyst with Thomas Weisel Partners.