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This article is about the telecommunications company. For the sustainable transportation organization, seeWorld Resources Institute.
Embarq Corporation
Company typeSubsidiary
NYSE:EQ[1]
IndustryTelecom Service - Domestic
PredecessorSprint
Sprint Nextel
FoundedMay 17, 2006;18 years ago(2006-05-17)
DefunctJuly 1, 2009;15 years ago(2009-07-01)
SuccessorCenturyTel
CenturyLink
Headquarters
Overland Park,Kansas
,
U.S.
Area served
19 states
ServicesTelecommunications
RevenueIncrease$6.363 billionUSD(2006)
Number of employees
18,000 (2007)
ParentSprint Nextel(2006)
CenturyTel(2009-2010)
CenturyLink(2011-present)
SubsidiariesCentel
United Telephone Companies
Websitehttps://www.embarq.comArchived14 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine

Embarq Corporation(stylized asEMBARQ) was the largest independentlocal exchange carrierin theUnited States(below theBaby Bells),[2]serving customers in 18 states and providing local, long-distance, high-speed data and wireless services to residential and business customers. It had been formerly the local telephone division (LTD) ofSprint Nexteluntil 2006, when it was spun off as an independent company. Embarq produced more than $6 billion in revenues annually, and had approximately 18,000 employees. It was based inOverland Park, Kansas.

In 2009, it was purchased by CenturyTel, whichrebrandedas CenturyLink (now known asLumen Technologies) after the merger.

History[edit]

Brown Telephone Company[edit]

A 2009 image of the Embarq headquarters inOverland Park, Kansas.

C. L. Brownfounded Brown Telephone Company in the small town ofAbilene, Kansas.The company was a landline telephone company that operated as a competitor to theBell System.[3]Brown acquired a number of other local telephone companies, merging them under the name United Telephone Company in 1911.[4]

United Telecom[edit]

A termination block station inPort Charlotte, Floridawith United Telecom markings.

In 1938, after emerging frombankruptcy,United Telephone Company became United Utilities.[4]The company grew steadily through acquisitions and changed its name to United Telecommunications in 1972, at which time it provided local telephone service in many areas of the Midwest and South. United Telecom also operated many other types of businesses. United Telecommunications United Information Systems (UIS) group acquired On-Line Systems, Inc, a company that offers business and database applications hosted onDECtime-sharingsystems ca. 1980.[5][6]In 1980 United Telecom launched a nationalX.25data service, Uninet. To enter the long-distance voice market, United Telecom acquiredISACOMMin 1981 and US Telephone in 1984.

Sprint[edit]

Main article:Sprint Nextel

Southern Pacific Communications Company(SPCC), a unit of theSouthern Pacific Railroad,began providing long-distance telephone service shortly after the MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. FCC (Execunet II)[7]decision late in 1978. The railroad had an extensive microwave communications system along itsrights of wayused for internal communications. In 1972 they began selling surplus time on that system to corporations for use as their own Private Line Network, thereby circumventingAT&T's then-monopoly on public telephony, later expanding to fiber optic cables laid along those same rights of way subsequent to the Execunet II decision late in 1978. Prior attempts at offering long-distance service were not approved by theFederal Communications Commission,though the company'sfaxservice (SpeedFAX) had been permitted. SPCC was headquartered inBurlingame, California,where Sprint still maintains a technology lab on Adrian Court.

As mentioned above, SPCC was only permitted to provide Private Line service and not switched services. WhenMCI Communicationsreleased EXECUNET, SPCC went to court with the FCC to get the right to offer switched services.

The SPRINT service was first marketed to six metropolitan areas,New York City,Boston,Philadelphia,Los Angeles,San DiegoandAnaheim.The switches were located in Los Angeles and New York. A customer, required to have a Private Line connection to one of these switches in order to use the service, paid an access fee per Private Line. The customer was then billed at 2.6 cents per tenth of a minute increment.

Southern Pacific Communications became part ofGTEin 1982 under the name GTE Sprint. GTE had previously acquired a nationalX.25provider,Telenet,in 1979.

In 1986, GTE Sprint was merged with GTE Telenet, US Telecom, Uninet, and ISACOMM to form US Sprint. This was a partnership owned by GTE and United Telecom. In 1989 United Telecom purchased controlling interest in US Sprint. In 1991 United Telecom completed its acquisition of US Sprint. That same year United Telecom changed its name to Sprint due in large part to the increased brand recognition of Sprint, as a result of the successfulCandice Bergen"Dime Lady" advertisement campaign.

In 1983, United Telecom's Telespectrum began offering cellular telephone services in United's territories. In 1988, Telespectrum was sold to Centel for $763 million to fund United's purchase of an additional 30% of U.S. Sprint. This purchase gave United operational control of US Sprint.

In 1993, Sprint merged with Centel,[8]which allowed Sprint to provide local service in a total of 18 states and put them back in the wireless business. In late 1994 and early 1995, Sprint via Sprint Spectrum (a joint venture between Sprint and several cable companies) acquired near nationwide PCS spectrum. Later in 1995 the company began to offer wireless service under the Sprint PCS brand.

On October 5, 1999, Sprint andMCI WorldComannounced a $129 billion merger agreement between the two companies. The deal would have been the largest corporate merger in history at the time. However, the deal did not go through because of pressure from theUnited States Department of Justiceand theEuropean Unionon concerns of it creating a monopoly.

In 2003, Sprint began recombining their local telecom, long-distance, wireline, and wireless business units into a new company, marketing the combined company as "One Sprint". In April 2004, the separately traded wirelesstracking stock,"PCS", was absorbed into theNew York Stock Exchange(NYSE) "FON" ticker symbol, Sprint's former ticker symbol. (FON stood for "Fiber Optic Network", which was Sprint's bragging right, but was also a homophone of the word "phone" ). This was challenged in many lawsuits by Sprint PCS shareholders claiming the stock was devalued through the ratio of 1 share of PCS stock for 1/2 share of FON stock. Sprint agreed to settle with the shareholders for $57.5 million.

Merger with Nextel and Embarq spinoff[edit]

In December 2004, Sprint announced it would acquireNEXTEL Communications,renaming itselfSprint Nextel,and planned to spin off their local telephone operations. The $35 billion deal was completed in August 2005.[9][10]In February 2006, the new name and logo for the spin-off, which is called Embarq, were revealed. The spin-off was completed in May 2006.

Acquisition by CenturyTel[edit]

On October 27, 2008, Embarq announced that it would be acquired byMonroe, Louisiana-basedCenturyTel,Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $11.6 billion, including the assumption of $5.8 billion in Embarq's debt. CenturyTel's CEO Glen Post became CEO of the combined company. On June 2, 2009, CenturyTel and Embarq announced that the combined entity would be calledCenturyLink.[11]The acquisition was completed on July 1, 2009.[12]The change to CenturyLink took place in October 2009.

Former coverage area[edit]

Embarq's coverage territory included that of the formerincumbent local exchange carriercompanies ofCarolina Telephone & Telegraph,United Telephone Company, andCentel.Embarq provided its local service in 19 states.

Products[edit]

Embarqpay phone

Embarq focused on sales of landline telephone service, high-speed internet, and DISH Network satellite TV. Embarq offered bundled services to their customers, with the convenience of one monthly bill and offered discounts for adding additional services.

Embarq telephone service was a traditional landline Plain-old telephone system (POTS). Common offerings included features such asCaller ID,Call waiting,3-way calling,Call forwarding,Voice mail,andAnonymous call rejection.[13]

Embarq offered many long-distance plans, including unlimited domestic direct-dialed calling.

Depending on market and geographical region, Embarq offered severalhigh-speed internettechnologies. Embarq covered the majority of their territory withADSLat speeds of 768 kbit/s, 1.5 Mbit/s, 3.0 Mbit/s, or 5.0 Mbit/s as line conditions allowed. In September 2007 Embarq began offering 10.0 Mbit/s to customers in Las Vegas. Beginning in January 2008, Embarq released the 10 Mbit/s tier across their entire footprint.[14]Embarq offered fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) in additional markets, such as parts ofLas Vegas, Nevada,North CarolinaandFlorida.

Embarq had an established partnership withDish Networkand offered a comprehensive lineup of DISH Network services to its customers. Discounts were available when eligible DISH Network programming was bundled with other qualifying Embarq products. In addition to the DISH Network partnership, Embarq also planned to test a TV service (tentatively called Embarq TV) in the near future. Details were scarce, but the service was rumored to have been anIPTVfiber-to-the-node service similar toAT&T'sU-verse.Testing was completed and Embarq/CenturyLink rolled out IPTV to its customer base in Jefferson City, MO in October 2009. CenturyTel is providing its IPTV feed to the Jefferson City switching office from its service in Columbia, MO. CenturyLink now offers its Prism TV service in select markets, which was based on Embarq TV. Legacy Embarq customers who have DISH Network can still bundle their service with CenturyLink, but only under agrandfather clause;new customers can only getDirecTVif Prism TV isn't available.

Embarq providedwireless phoneservice only for business accounts; they closed residential wireless business. Embarq provided business wireless phone service throughout much of its territory. Embarq operated as a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) for Sprint PCS. Embarq utilized theCDMAband, and their handsets connect primarily to Sprint PCS towers. However, Embarq handsets were also capable of roaming onto CDMA networks from other carriers.

EmbarqDSLcustomers were offered freeEarthLinkservices until the formation of Myembarq.com.[15]In February 2007, Embarq customers were required to switch to Myembarq and Embarqmail.[16]

Criticisms[edit]

A 2701HG-S wireless gateway by2Wire,issued by Embarq

Embarq previously worked withNebuAd,abehavioral targetingadvertising company to track customers' internet browsing habits. The goal was to deliver relevant ads based on browsing history.[17]This has raised several legal and privacy concerns, along with the other internet providers using NebuAd and related services such asCharter CommunicationsandWOW!.[18]Embarq's use of NebuAd prompted a letter from CongressmanEdward Markey.[19]Embarq responded to Congressman Markey's letter.[20]Embarq later claimed that its participation with NebuAd was a trial, and that they were not currently using NebuAd for behavioral targeted advertising.[21]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"SEC".
  2. ^https://pubs.naruc.org/pub/FA864175-C903-98F7-0D0B-3B8D70C67CA5p. vii
  3. ^"United Telecommunications, Inc. - Company History".fundinguniverse.com.
  4. ^ab"C.L. Brown, Kansas Independent Telephony, and a Spirit of Giving".Dickinson County Historical Society.July 5, 2012.
  5. ^"Nickels & Dimes".Computerworld.XIII(20): 75. May 14, 1979.RetrievedOctober 31,2022.
  6. ^"The Datamation 100"(PDF).Datamation.26(7): 140. July 1980.RetrievedOctober 31,2022.Network Services of United Computing and On-Line represent 68% of dp revenues.
  7. ^"MCI vs FCC, 580 F.2d 590 (1978)".
  8. ^"Sprint-centel Merger Complete Despite Fears".tribunedigital-chicagotribune.Retrieved2018-04-26.
  9. ^Reporter, a Wall Street Journal Staff (2005-08-16)."Sprint Completes Acquisition Of Nextel Communications".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Retrieved2020-08-21.
  10. ^"Sprint Acquires Nextel in $35 Billion Deal".Los Angeles Times.2004-12-15.Retrieved2020-08-21.
  11. ^"CenturyTel and EMBARQ announce name and logo of combined company"(PDF).CenturyTel. 2009-02-06.Retrieved2009-05-06.
  12. ^"CenturyTel and EMBARQ Complete Merger".CenturyTel. 2009-07-01. Archived fromthe originalon 2012-07-09.Retrieved2009-07-05.
  13. ^"FAQ".Embarq Corporation.Retrieved2008-01-22.
  14. ^"Broadband Reports".Retrieved2008-07-16.
  15. ^"Urgent! Your Free EarthLink E-mail Expires Soon".Archived fromthe originalon 2006-02-18.Retrieved2008-01-15.
  16. ^"Myembarq Homepage".Retrieved2008-01-15.
  17. ^How Should I.S.P.s Tell You if They Want to Track Your Surfing?fromThe New York Times,retrieved April 9, 2008.
  18. ^US Congress questions legality of Phorm and the PhormettesfromThe Register
  19. ^"Letter at House website".Markey.house.gov. Archived fromthe originalon 2011-09-30.Retrieved2012-05-01.
  20. ^The response can be found here[1].
  21. ^"NebuAd rebuffed by additional ISPs due to privacy issues from MediaPost Publications".Mediapost.com. Archived fromthe originalon September 7, 2009.RetrievedJuly 7,2008.
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