The Sprint brand has always stood for technological innovation, excellent customer service and creative marketing, but its story began with a small local telephone company in Abilene, Kansas.
Founded by Cleyson L. Brown in 1899, the Brown Telephone Company quickly became a viable alternative to Bell, rapidly launching to local markets in Kansas and beyond.
Following the Depression years, the company reorganized as United Utilities, growing to become the second-largest non-Bell telephone company in America by the 1950s. In the 1960s, United Utilities introduced systemwide advertising campaigns and created its first sales organization to market services through subsidiaries.
In 1972 the company changed its name to United Telecommunications, and by 1976 this diversified corporation served more than 3.5 million telephone lines coast-to-coast and generated revenues exceeding $1 billion. By decade's end the company had installed its first fiber-optic cable and first digital switch, and in 1980 established UNINET as the world's third largest commercial packet data network.
By the mid-1980s the company announced its bold plan to enter the deregulated long distance market. Domestic long distance service officially launched in 1986 under the Sprint brand name, with the nation's first 100% digital, fiber-optic network as the centerpiece of the plan.
Over the next few years the company solidified its industry leadership and success through a series of high-profile technological advances, including the nation's first coast-to-coast fiber-optic transmission and the first transatlantic fiber-optic phone call. Sprint International then emerged in 1989 to promote the company's growing presence in the global marketplace.
By now possessing strong brand recognition in the long distance segment, United Telecommunications chose to adopt the nationally recognized identity of this unit by becoming Sprint Corporation in 1992.
By 1993, the company provided service to more than 6.1 million customer lines in 19 states. The company also took its first step toward becoming an all-service provider of long distance, local and wireless services by merging with Central Telephone Company of Illinois that same year. Significant marketing successes included a breakthrough flat-rate long distance calling plan in 1995, and also the popular prepaid calling card for domestic and international use.
In 1995, with its partners, Sprint acquired PCS wireless licenses in 29 major trading areas in the FCC's first auction. By 1998 Sprint had full ownership and management control of Sprint PCS, at this time creating two classes of stock - PCS Stock and FON Stock.
The introduction of Sprint ION in 1998 marked another pivotal change: this revolutionary capability delivers simultaneous voice, video and data services over a single existing connection. With Sprint ION, a household or business can conduct multiple phone calls, receive faxes, run new advanced applications and use the Internet at speeds up to 100 times faster than today's conventional modems - all simultaneously over the one connection. The introduction of ION service propelled Sprint into a leading position as a full-service, all distance telecommunications provider.
The year 2000 marked a refocusing of Sprint, following an attempt to merge with WorldCom that did not generate U.S. government approval. On Nov. 3, 2000 Sprint Chairman and CEO William T. Esrey announced that the company would focus its efforts on the high growth areas of the telecom industry including a plan continue to build Sprint PCS into a wireless powerhouse and transition the FON group into a high-growth data-driven business.
"I believe we have the foundation in place, along with the brand and the workforce to make this happen," Esrey said.
Date Added to Directory: 4/22/2001, Current Content: 10/12/2008, Days in Directory: 2730
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