Sprint
This article is about the telecommunications company; see sprints for the running term.
Sprint Corporation is one of the world's largest telecommunication companies. It is a global communications provider and a major competitor in the American cellular phone market, through its Sprint PCS service based on CDMA and PCS. It is also a Tier 1 internet service provider under the name SprintLink.
Sprint maintains its nationwide PCS presence with the help of affiliates. In most cases, these affiliate carriers are transparent to the end user or consumer. Alamosa PCS is the largest of its affiliate carriers.
The corporation is based in Overland Park, Kansas. The headquarters campus house about 14,500 Sprint employees within approximately four million square feet (400,000 m²) of office space on 240 acres.
History
Southern Pacific Communications (SPC) , a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad began offering their dial-up service shortly after the Execunet II decision late in 1978. The Railroad had extensive rights of way that could be used to lay long-distance communications. Prior attempts at offering long distance service were disapproved by the Federal Communications Commission, though the company's fax service (SpeedFAX) had been permitted. According to company employees, Sprint was a name chosen by a contest sponsored within the company by Rex Hollis, the VP of Marketing at the time. Some claim it was a acronym for "Southern Pacific Railroad Information Network."
Sprint was purchased by GTE in 1983. In 1986, Sprint was merged with US Telecom (the long distance arm of United Telecom) to form US Sprint. This was a partnership owned by GTE and United Telecom. In 1989 United Telecom purchased controlling interest in US Sprint. In 1991 United Telecom completed its acquisition of US Sprint. That same year United Telecom changed its name to Sprint (dropping the US).
In 1899, Cleyson Brown founded the Brown Telephone Company in the small town of Abilene, Kansas. That company changed its name to United Telecommunications in 1972. In 1986, the company launched its long distance services under the Sprint brandname.
Sprint competitors
External links
- Sprint's official website (http://www.sprint.com/), including a company history (http://www.sprint.com/sprint/ir/sd/sh.html)
- Sprint Canada's official website (http://www.sprintcanada.ca/)
fr:Sprint (entreprise)