Milestone Events Making Sprint History: 1899 - PRESENT

1800

1899

Cleyson L. Brown organizes the Brown Telephone Company in Abilene, Kansas. This company's evolution over the next century creates the industry leader and global innovator known as Sprint

1900

1942

Sprint's name is changed from Brown Telephone Company to United Utilities

1961

United Utilities stock splits 2 for 1 on April 6

1965

United Utilities stock splits again 2 for 1 on January 25

1972

Sprint's name is changed from United Utilities to united Telecommunications

1976

After decades of expansion, the diversified $1 billion company (then called United Telecommunications or United Telecom) serves more than 3.5 million local telephone lines coast-to-coast

1984

Plans are announced for the first nationwide 100% digital fiber optic network, which is completed in 1987

1986

The Company launches long distance service under Sprint brand name. The famous "pin drop" commercials boost brand awareness and corporate image

The long distance division, now known as Sprint, completes the nation's first coast-to-coast fiber optic transmission

1988

Sprint wins a major share of the FTS2000 contract for the U.S. government's advanced telecommunications system

Sprint becomes the first long distance carrier to install Signaling System 7 throughout its network

1989

Sprint's first transatlantic fiber optic phone call is also an industry first

Sprint stock splits two-for-one on December 28

1990

1990

Sprint forms an international subsidiary to globally market SprintNet®, one of the world's largest public data networks, along with other international services

1991

United Telecom deploys the first nationwide public Frame Relay service.

1992

United Telecom adopts the nationally recognized identity of its long distance unit, changing its name to Sprint Corporation.

1993

Following its merger with Centel Corporation, Sprint becomes the only major U.S. telecommunications company providing long distance, local and wireless services

Sprint long distance leads in two major high-speed components of the "information superhighway." The company is the first U.S. carrier to offer Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) service and the first to announce plans for a nationwide Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)

Sprint provides service to more than 6.1 million local customer lines in 19 states, with more than 96% of these lines served by digital switching

1994

Sprint announces plans to join in a global partnership with two of the world's largest telecommunications companies, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom

Sprint announces plans for a powerful new venture with three of the nation's major cable television companies, Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI), Comcast Corp. and Cox Cable. The four companies outline plans to build a nationwide network to provide wireless personal communications service (PCS), and also affirm their support for a single integrated offering of wireless, local telephone and long distance services in a package with cable television service

1995

Along with its strong position in the U.S., Sprint's North American presence includes relationships with Canadian and Mexican telecommunications providers, as the company begins promoting a full range of cross-border services for the corporate, consumer and carrier markets

Sprint's local division surpasses 6.5 million local customer lines

Sprint and its partners win the rights to PCS wireless licenses in 29 U.S. major trading areas, more than any other company or consortium bidding in the FCC's first auction of next generation wireless licenses

Sprint announces the completion of the first coast-to-coast telecommunications route that ensures voice, data, image and video service without interruption, even in the event of a cable cut or electronics failure

1996

Sprint's global alliance with Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom begins doing business as Global One

Sprint spins off its cellular division into 360° Communications Company

Sprint announces plans to install optical wavelength division multiplexing technology in its nationwide network. The technology will increase the capacity of its nationwide fiber network by 1,600%

1997

Sprint announces that more than half of its long distance traffic has been rolled to its "bulletproof" SONET network, creating a new industry standard for network reliability

Sprint directly acquires PCS wireless licenses which, along with those held by the Sprint PCS joint venture, result in Sprint-branded PCS coverage of nearly 260 million people across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

One year after its inception, Global One has 1,200 points of presence in 65 countries

Sprint acquires Paranet, Inc., a leading provider of integration, management and support services for distributed computing technology. Sprint Paranet provides data management services that extend from the desktop to local and wide area networks.

1998

Sprint announces the Integrated On-Demand Network, or Sprint ION - a project to provide homes and businesses with simultaneous voice, video and data services over a single existing telephone line

The company's local division begins selling the complete Sprint portfolio of products and services

For the fourth consecutive year J.D. Power and Associates rates Sprint No. 1 in customer satisfaction among high volume long distance users, noting the company's strong performance in credibility, cost and value, customer service and straightforward, understandable promotions

Sprint announces plans to significantly boost the transmission speed and bandwidth of its Internet backbone to the fastest type of service available, an upgrade designed to increase Sprint's bandwidth by more than 400 percent and deliver even more reliable and higher speed connectivity for consumers

Sprint announces an agreement to assume 100% ownership and management control of Sprint PCS, its wireless joint venture with TCI, Comcast Corporation and Cox Communications, Inc

With its 100th SONET ring in operation, 85% of Sprint's services are now rolled into this state of the art transmission system

Sprint and EarthLink Network, Inc. announce an alliance that creates a combined base of 600,000 Internet access customers

The 1998 Data Communications' annual Data Comm Users' Survey notes the company's advances in the value-added and technical service categories of frame relay and Internet access

1999

Sprint announces approval of a two-for-one split of the company's FON stock in the form of a dividend payable in Sprint FON shares. The new shares will issue on June 4, 2000, to May 13 shareholders of record

J.D. Power & Associates rates Sprint No. 1 in their annual customer satisfaction study for the 5th consecutive year in the over $50/month high-volume long distance segment

Fortune's 1999 list of America's "Most Admired Companies" ranks Sprint first in the telecom category for all eight attributes of corporate reputation: innovation, quality of management, employee talent, quality of products and services, long-term investment value, financial soundness, social responsibility and use of corporate assets

Sprint and MCI WorldCom announce an historic agreement to merge, a move that will create the pre-eminent global communications company for the 21st century. The combined company, to be called WorldCom, will provide a full range of services to residential and business customers on its owned, end-to-end, state-of-the-art network infrastructure.

2000

2000

Sprint announces its agreement with Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom to sell Sprint's interest in Global One, the three companies' international telecommunications venture. Sprint will receive $1.13 billion in cash and repayment of $276 million in debt for its entire stake in Global One

The company reports record first quarter results. Sprint's consolidated net operating revenues for the quarter were $5.48 billion, an 18 percent increase from $4.65 billion in the first quarter of 1999

On April 28, shareholders of Sprint and MCI WorldCom approve a proposed Integration of these two strong companies into one global services provider will deliver lower cost, higher quality services to more customers than ever before

On July 13, Sprint and MCI WorldCom mutually agreed to terminate the merger, citing the set of conditions ultimately demanded by the U.S. Department of Justice would have compromised the customer and financial benefits of the merger. The companies decided it was not in the best interest of shareholders, customers and employees to pursue protracted litigation

Sprint announces ongoing strategy to focus on high-growth, data-driven initiatives in the wireline industry and build Sprint PCS into a "wireless powerhouse."

Sprint forms a new business unit, Sprint E|Solutions, providing business customers with a full suite of Internet services, including network access, web hosting, applications management, and business and systems integration

2001

Sprint PCS announces its migration strategy to third generation (3G) technology, increasing voice capacity and data speeds and allowing customers to experience new and richer applications on the Sprint PCS network

Sprint and Dell Computer form an alliance to develop a comprehensive array of bundled hosting solutions tailored to the growing needs of small and medium business customers using Dell servers and storage and selected telecom services from Sprint

Sprint delivers its high-speed, pan-European IP network, the first with a 10 Gbps (gigabit per second) trans-Atlantic IP backbone, connecting 11 cities across Europe

Sprint terminates its efforts to develop and provide Sprint ION services and takes additional steps to improve its competitive position, reduce operating costs and focus more sharply on high-growth areas of the telecom market, including data and wireless. Long distance voice strategy targets bundling.

Sprint and America Online, Inc., the world's leading interactive services company, form a new strategic alliance to offer AOL members a variety of Sprint's affordable long-distance plans, branded "AOL Long Distance provided by Sprint"

Sprint E|Solutions opens its tenth hosting center in Los Angeles, bringing the business unit's total hosting space to more than 1.5 million square feet nationwide; E|Solutions signs agreement with eBay for to provide expanded hosting solutions for the popular online marketplace
[Source=Sprint Website]

 2006