What is Sprint? - An American Wireless Telco Service Provider

Sprint Logo

1. What is Sprint?

Sprint is an American telecommunication company which serves the USA by providing wireless telecommunication solutions to Americans.

2. History

Sprint Corporation takes a long back history with two telecommunication companies, Brown Telephone Company and Southern Pacific Railroad.

Browns Telephone Company
Brown Telephone company is founded in 1899 by Cleyson Brown in the mission of serving the rural area around Abilene, Kansas. Browns Telephone Company installed its first long-distance circuit in 1990 and consumers got an alternative solution for Bell Telephone.

By Consolidating with three independent companies, Browns Telephone Company formed United Telephone Company in 1939 which after named it United Telephone and Electric is also known as UT&E. End of the great depression UT&E recognized as the United Utilities.

Paul H. Henson became the president of United Utilities in 1964 who was working for the company since 1959. And Paul H. Henson got the position of Chairman of the company in 1966. By 1966 United Utilities had their presence in 15 states and 575,000 telephones which allowed the company to revenue of US$ 65 million. United Utilities build their first fiber optic cables to allow consumers to transfer voice clear and United Utilities to handle more calls.

In 1972 United Utilities changed its name to United Telecommunications. The company started working on its 23,000 miles fiber-optic network for long-distance calls in 1980 and the long-distance business became profitable for the company for the first time in 1989.

Southern Pacific Communications
Southern Pacific Railroad also was known as SPR was founded in 1860 and was a subsidiary of Southern Pacific Company which also known as SPC. The company operated thousands of miles of track as well as telegraph wire that ran along those tracks. In 1970 the company began looking into the ways to use their existing communication lines for long-distance calling.

Southern Pacific Company formed a new division and named it as Southern Pacific Communications Company. The company named the business as Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Network Telecommunication and SPRINT were formed as an acronym.

GTE Corporation bought SPC's long-distance telephone operation business including SPRINT and finalized the deal in 1983. In 1986 GTE SPRINT got merged with United Telecommunications and United Telecommunication announced the complete acquisition of US SPRINT in April 1990. United Telecommunication officially changed its name to Sprint Corporation in 1992.

Sprint is publicly traded on NYSE and 84% of the company shares are owned by the SoftBank Group Corporation. Sprint is currently headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, USA. The company serves the USA, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands.