Sprint Connect, Llc. history

1976 Coming of Age Sprint – Decades of local expansion produce $1 billion revenue milestone.

At the same time, the company was a pioneer in data communications, establishing the world's third largest commercial packet data network in 1980.

In October 1986, the new company introduced an imaginative advertising campaign, featuring a tiny pin that was dropped on a table in front of a telephone receiver.

He organized discussions with GTE and in 1986 announced the merger of US Telecom and GTE Sprint.

In 1986, GTE Sprint merged with the United Telecommunications Inc. property, US Telecom.

In 1986 the company began offering long distance services under the Sprint brand name.

By 1986, Sprint led all United States telecom companies by completing the first nationwide, 100% digital, fiber-optic network.

1986 Pin-Drop Quality Sprint – Long-distance service begins and famous pin-drop commercials debut.

The Nextel Tradition . In 1987, a visionary entrepreneur named Morgan O'Brien founded a company called Fleet Net.

1987 Industry First Sprint – First nationwide, 100 percent digital, fiber-optic network is completed.

In 1988 Sprint had been the first company to provide a nationwide, digital, fiber-optic telephone network.

In 1989, this long-distance business became profitable for the company for the first time.

1989 Across the Sea Sprint – First transatlantic fiber-optic phone call connects.

United Telecom announced it would complete its acquisition of US Sprint on April 18, 1990.

US Sprint launched a new advertising campaign in October 1990 featuring Candice Bergen, star of the television series "Murphy Brown." Bergen's effectiveness as a spokesperson grew with the show's popularity, eventually making her the most valuable spokesperson in advertising.

1992: Following reorganization, the company is renamed Sprint Corp.

Renamed Nextel in 1993, the company rapidly established itself as a nationwide force in the burgeoning world of wireless communications.

In 1995, Sprint entered into a partnership with America Personal Communications to create a digital wireless network.

The 1995 "Sprint Sense" campaign, handled by J. Walter Thompson of San Francisco, introduced Candice Bergen as Sprint's spokesperson.

In 1995, the first year of the survey, Sprint had been number one with high-volume users, but it trailed AT&T with the 80 percent who spent less than $50 a month on calls.

By mid-1995, Nextel was on point to serve all of the nation's top 50 markets.

The following year, in 1996, the "Dime Lady" campaign featured Bergen assuring consumers that it was indeed "one minute, one dime, no kidding." It was in 1995 that Sprint Corporation launched its national "Sprint Sense," an advertising and marketing campaign to sell long-distance phone service.

In September 1996, the company introduced Motorola's breakthrough iDEN technology.

By 1996, one year after introducing "Sprint Sense," the market share for long-distance calling was growing faster for Sprint than for the competition.

According to Business Week, Sprint's net income in 1996 rose 29 percent to $317 million, while profits grew 12 percent to $3.5 billion.

In the first half of 1996 AT&T's churn was 117 percent, MCI's was 79 percent, and Sprint's was a low 27 percent.

In 1996 AT&T began airing ads that disparaged Sprint's calling plan.

"Sprint Ranking High on All Fronts, Say Three New Studies." PRNewswire, August 20, 1997.

"Great Rates: Sprint Offers Free Calls Monday Nights and a New Collect Calling Service." PRNewswire, September 8, 1997.

Among long-distance telephone carriers in the United States, AT&T Corp. was in first place with 52.6 percent of the United States long-distance market in November 1997.

Enrico, Dottie. "Consumers Bought into Real-World Ads in '97." USA Today, December 29, 1997.

By 1997, Sprint's customer base had grown to seven million local service customers, giving it about 10 percent of the nation's long-distance market.

According to Fortune magazine, in the third quarter of 1997 Sprint's calling volume climbed 14 percent, and profits increased 8.1 percent, outdistancing both AT&T and MCI.

By 1997 the organization was known as Sprint Corporation, a global communications company that carried the world's largest volume of Internet traffic.

Throughout 1997 AT&T also ran a campaign in which comedian Paul Reiser explained the company's new one-rate calling plan without attacking its direct competition, Sprint's dime-a-minute plan.

To publicize its long-distance calling rates, Sprint ran promotions tied to two adventure movies in 1997.

NOTE: Since the initial appearance of this essay in the 1998 edition of Major Marketing Campaigns Annual, the Sprint Corporation merged with Nextel to become Sprint Nextel.

By 1998 Sprint's local calling business, still its main enterprise, had 7.5 million customers in 19 states, and it had 10 percent of the yearly $85 billion United States long-distance calling market.

According to a 1998 Forbes article, however, Sprint continued to grow faster than both of these competitors.

Although Sprint PCS service was CDMA (later 4G LTE), the original Washington-area network used GSM. Eventually, Sprint launched its new nationwide CDMA network in 1999 sold the decommissioned GSM infrastructure to Omnipoint (later VoiceStream and now T-Mobile).

The company hoped to be able to cross-sell its services to existing customers, bundling its various services. It shut down its ION project, which had debuted in some cities in 1999, citing technological and economic difficulties with the deployment.

By the year 2000, the company had connected to countries around the world and introduced its always-connected wireless data solution.

The campaign helped Sprint PCS remain America's fourth-largest wireless provider throughout 2002.

Similar to Sprint PCS, Verizon used C.D.M.A. (Code Division Multiple Access), a technology developed by Qualcomm Incorporated, to increase network bandwidth and subsequently handle more phone traffic in 2002.

In 2002 the corporation launched its enigmatic "mLife" campaign, which ran into early trouble after consumers confused it with MetLife Insurance.

Unfortunately, Sprint PCS's high customer churn rate during 2002 forced a 6 percent cutback in workforce and a reduction of early subscriber growth forecasts.

Sprint PCS composed almost 50 percent of its parent company, Sprint Corp., which posted a $563 million sales increase for 2002.

In September 2003, during the campaign's first week, bright-yellow posters with the word "Do" began appearing in cities.

In 2003 Sprint spent an estimated $550 million on advertising and posted $1 billion in revenues.

On December 15, 2004, Sprint Corporation and Nextel Communications announced they would merge to form Sprint Nextel.

New television spots were released at the beginning of 2004.