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Beginnings Sprint first took off in 1899 as the Brown Telephone Company, based in Abilene, Kansas. Brown Telephone was founded by Cleyson L. Brown, and was one of the first non-Bell telephone companies in the West. Prefiguring price wars nearly a century later, Brown Telephone got its start by promising to lower monthly rates from Bell's $3-a-month rate to $1. In 1911, Brown Telephone merged with other independent Kansas phone companies to form the United Telephone Company. United Telephone continued to expand, taking an opportunistic vantage point during the Great Depression and acquiring telephone companies in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio and Illinois. Telephone production stopped during World War II. When it ended, 2 million back orders for new service, plus the job of restoring damaged lines, fell into the telephone industry's lap. The company held off on acquiring new businesses during this period, concentrating on modernizing old equipment, building new plant facilities, and overhauling a sales strategy. The financially healthy company resumed its series of acquisitions in the mid-1960s. Between 1964 and 1966, United Utilities doubled in size, adding telephone companies in Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia and Pennsylvania. Acquisitions in Florida, Texas and the Carolinas doubled the system's size again between 1967 and 1969. By this time, the system boasted 2 million telephones with $1 billion in assets. In 1970, to reflect its new bad self, United Utilities renamed itself United Telecommunications, Inc., or United Telecom. By 1974, revenues approached $1 billion. United Telecom sprints 23,000 miles across the nation In 1984, as the culmination of a long series of antitrust suits brought against AT&T by the Justice Department (which first began taking legal action in 1956), Ma Bell was torn asunder, and the resulting Baby Bells were banned from offering long distance service. That year, then-United Telecom head Paul Henson announced that the company would build the first all-digital, all-fiber-optic long distance system within three years (traditional phone lines utilize copper wires and analog technology). Sprint daringly pinned its future viability on this project. Sprint had laid its first seven miles of fiber optic cable in 1978. By 1980, United Telecom had fiber optic cables in 17 locations, and digital switches controlling 710,000 lines. In 1985, United Telecom partnered with GTE's long-distance arm, GTE Sprint. Each company owned 50 percent of the venture, with neither taking a controlling interest. The partnership combined GTE Sprint's customer base and United Telecom's technological vision. The venture was called US Sprint. At the height of its massive fiber optics project, United Telecom was buying 80 percent of all the fiber produced in the world. Within two years, Sprint had connected the country's first coast-to-coast fiber-optic transmission: a videoconference linking New York and Los Angeles. By 1988, the company had built 23,000 miles of cable. In 1990, United Telecom bought out its partner and renamed itself Sprint. Sprint acquired Centel Corporation, a leading supplier of telephone and cellular services, in 1993 as part of its long-term cellular strategy. Sprint has continued to expand its customer base and product line. In July 1999, the company signed an agreement with QUALCOMM, the leader in digital wireless technology; in September, it began offering its Sprint PCS Wireless Web service nationwide; and it signed numerous affiliation agreements to improve the clarity of its PCS service. The following February, in order to retain some of its Internet access market, the company increased its stake in Earthlink.com. Additionally, in April, the company added its PCS service to its high-speed data offering; in May, it teamed with Barnes & Noble.com to provide wireless Internet shopping; and in mid-2000, Sprint began offering Sprint Broadband Direct, a two-way wireless service. A possible merger... Industry leader AT&T's $53.2 billion revenue in 1998 dwarfed Sprint's $16.02 billion. Most industry observers agreed that evolution of the telecommunications industry would result in the survival of but a few large companies, and many speculated that while Sprint's survival was likely, it would not necessarily remain an independent entity. Takeover speculation was rampant in 1998, with companies like BellSouth, as well as some foreign carriers, occupying the list of potential buyers. In 1999, Sprint finally made its move, negotiating a takeover by MCI WorldCom worth about $130 billion. A wrinkle in the deal appeared to be WorldCom's refusal to part with its UUNet Internet unit. Federal regulators had been insisting that WorldCom abandon the unit. U.S. regulators worried that the proposed $120 billion merger between WorldCom and Sprint would hurt Americans by cutting competition in some telecom services. It was said that WorldCom would walk away from the deal before giving up UUNet, which carried data and supplies other services for the exploding Internet segment. In June 2000, Sprint CEO William T. Esrey announced for the first time that Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust regulators might block the merger. Even if the DOJ did approve the deal, the Federal Communications Commission, as well as the European Commission, still must OK the plan. A mark of approval from Europe might have been difficult for Sprint and WorldCom to attain because the prospect of an Internet communications backbone dominated by a U.S. giant worries some regulators and leaders overseas. In June 2000 the DOJ filed to block the merger on antitrust grounds. ...ends for good Sprint was expected to pull out of its merger agreement within July to leave the door open for a possible $110 billion offer from Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG. However, the German phone company was also considering Qwest Communications International Inc., and was not prepared to match Worldcom's offer; in addition, acquisition by Telekom presents regulatory battles and Congressional opposition. Sprint and WorldCom formally ended their merger agreement in mid-July, citing that DOJ demands would compromise the financial benefits of the merger. The DOJ had blocked the merger because it believed the deal would harm competition in the long-distance market and stifle technological innovation. An annulment of Sprint's merger with Worldcom leaves it open to negotiate with Bell South, the phone service provider that tried to compete with WorldCom for Sprint last year, as well as with Germany's Deutsche Telekom. It is unclear, however, whether Sprint will quickly jump into another merger.
Sprint recruits extensively at college campuses and business schools for its business and technical units. A schedule is posted on Sprint's detailed employment web pages (see www.sprint.com). The web site also has a job search function and a page prospective employees can use to submit their resumes. For the Staff Associate program, Sprint recruits at Wharton, Harvard, Kellogg, Duke, Cornell, Darden, Chicago, Michigan, and Stanford business schools. Sprint is MBA-happy and is known to go to great lengths to woo students at top schools: During the 1996 University of Michigan football game against Ohio State, the company spent $5,000 on a huge heated tent, under which MBAs munched on quiche Lorraine, sipped mimosas, and received Polartec scarves (with the Sprint logo) and phone cards for free phone service. Former MBA interns report going through one round of two back-to-back interviews on their school campuses. Full-time candidates for the SAP program go through screening interviews on campus, and then are flown to Kansas City for another round. In 1997, insiders say, Sprint added a psychological profiling element to their hiring process. Recruiters report being given questionnaires as guidelines for asking questions. The main thing to know about this is that the questions will be designed to figure out how prospective associates stack up against Sprint's 7 "Link" factors. For positions other than the staff associate program, company insiders generally report undergoing a screening interview and then touring the facility for a round of three or four interviews with managers and potential colleagues. Even engineers and other people in other technical positions report that their departments do not ask technical questions or brainteasers during their interview process. Sprint recruits for the "whole person," says one engineer. "It is not sufficient to be the smartest person in the world if you don't have the social skills to be effective."
Unconnected when it comes to culture "The company's culture is very open, with less formal hierarchy than I expected in a company with 50,000 employees," one former summer associate reports. Sprint is "pretty laid back, generally" says one employee. "The atmosphere is hardworking but relaxed, in other words, not strenuous or stressful," says another. One staff associate describes the "young company" culture as "loose." However, one summer associate who turned down an offer to return reports that, "overall, when you're dealing with Sprint, you're dealing with a large corporation." "Like all large companies, it does have its frustrations - see Dilbert," says another insider. Employees say that Sprint management is markedly decentralized, even within Sprint's Kansas City HQ, meaning that different departments may have disparate environments. "The Multimedia Group where I most recently had responsibilities was a very unstructured, self-motivated environment," says one longtime Sprint employee, "whereas others are more rigid and structured." And, according to one insider, "there are cultural tensions between the mature and more entrepreneurial groups within the company." "The company is very decentralized when it comes to implementation of policies - they are left up to local management," another employee says. "Corporate culture? Well, it varies from location to location. Sprint's a big place and there's more than one 'culture,'" sums up another employee. "It depends on where you're working, what you're doing and who you're working for. Here in the Kansas City area, there are at least 60 separate places to work." In general, casual dress As with company culture, the dress code at Sprint varies from location to location. One insider remarks that the dress code "is very much dictated by the regional culture: Atlanta is extremely formal, whereas Philly is only formal on demand, but New York City is formal again." However, most employees report that Sprint leans toward the casual side. "Generally, the accepted dress is 'corporate casual,' unless you are involved in direct customer contact, in which case traditional business attire is more common." "If you work in some of the corporate buildings, you may need to wear dressier clothes," says another. However, "most of the organizations are becoming informal," reports one staff associate. Flexible career path "I told them while we were negotiating, I said 'No Kansas City,'" reports one associate. "They said OK." This type of comment is common among Sprint employees. "Sprint is very flexible in working with you to determine the best career path for you. It is not uncommon for employees to change jobs after a year or two and pursue further experience, possibly in another part of the U.S., if they so desire." "Most managers interviewing will even try to help point you in the right direction if they feel you may be more comfortable in a different job," says one insider. Perks Among Sprint's extras are what one employee calls "phenomenal health goodies." "They pay a large portion of your insurance and that can mean extra money in your pocket. If you price how much you pay as compared to any other company you will see very fast how much Sprint pays," says another employee. "Also there are many different options depending on what your preferences are on how much you can afford and how much flexibility you need on where you have your doctor or hospital." "I am paying around $6 a week for insurance - both medical and dental - for myself, my wife and our 8-month-old baby," reports one worker. Another of the perks Sprint employees rave about is the company's tuition reimbursement program. "The tuition you pay for college or graduate credits can always be reimbursed, so its up to each individual if they want to continue their education," reports one systems analyst. Vacation at Sprint is nothing to write home about: two weeks to start, and three weeks after five years. Sprint offers a relocation program through which they buy the homes of employees who are moving. Top of the line "The company is in middle America, and the lifestyle is kinder and gentler than in Manhattan, but my peers were as smart and savvy as anywhere else," says one former summer associate. Sprint employees heap praise on their coworkers. "One of the things that always impresses me is the quality of the people that work here," says one engineer. A staff associate concurs: "I think it's pretty competitive. They only recruit from the top schools." "Sprint is very selective - you should have general management aspirations," says yet another insider in the staff associate program. "We are also looking for more experience. An associate's experience prior to business school is usually more than four years." "I would have to say the best part is the people I work with," says one insider.
Ameritech;AT&T;BellSouth;Qwest More Company Profiles For more career information, go to Vault.com ©2000, Vault.com Inc
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