We study the existence and wave-speed management of nonlinear localized waves in an inhomogeneous birefringent nonlinear dispersive medium in the presence of external potential. The coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equation with varying coefficients which can be applied to model the interaction among the modes in nonlinear optics and in Bose–Einstein condensation is considered. By means of a complex transformation, we derive new types of periodic nonlinear waves for the present coupled system which are expressed in terms of Jacobi elliptic functions. Novel soliton pulse solutions including bright-dipole and bright–dark solutions are identified in the long-wave limit of these periodic solutions. As an application of these soliton pulses, we discuss their wave-speed management for the different choices of dispersion parameter. The results show that the varied dispersion parameter can be used to control effectively the wave speed of propagating localized waves.