Sprint Nextel today said its customers can download free mobile banking software, including access to PayPal, from a variety of its Web-ready handsets.

Sprint announced its partnership with mobile banking specialist mFoundry in April of last year and now the software is finally ready, said Kevin McGinnis, director of consumer applications and entertainment services. It is called MyMoneyManager and is available for most of Sprint’s phones that use Qualcomm’s BREW and Sun Microsystems’ Java platforms – but it’s not yet ready for the flagship Instinct phone, he said.

For now, customers can use mFoundry software if they’re customers of BB&T, Citibank, IBC Bank or PNC Bank. Features include checking balances, paying bills and finding nearby branches and ATMs. Sprint plans to add other bank partners in the future, McGinnis said.

Separate from the mFoundry software, MyMoneyManager also includes a PayPal element. Any cell phone with a Web browser can already access the regular PayPal.com, however, Sprint is able to keep the interface consistent and integrate it with other features by offering it an application instead, McGinnis explained.

MyMoneyManager’s security features include multi-factor authentication, remote software deactivatation and data wiping after each use. What customers won’t get, at least for now, is embedded advertising, although McGinnis declined to rule that out as a future possibility.

Part of Sprint’s announcement is about keeping up with its rivals, as rivals AT&T and Verizon Wireless offer similar features. “We’ve seen a lot of progress in this space, the m-commerce space,” McGinnis said. However, the company will hold off on proximity payments – direct retail sales by using a phone as a wallet, as Visa, Nokia and others are testing – until the mobile and banking industries overall are more advanced on that front and until industry standards are developed, he said.