Rail Southern Pacific
The Company With A Thousand Names: Sprint
Sprint Nextel Corporation is the third largest of all the biggest American telecoms, as defined by the number of subscribers. The company was formed in 2005 when Sprint purchased Nextel for $35 billion. Sprint itself can be traced back to the Brown Telephone Company's founding in 1898. Brown Teleco became United Utilities after emerging from bankruptcy in 1938, during the Great Depression, which was just then about to start lifting, finally. In 1972 the name was changed again, to United Telecommunications, after various acquisitions.
The next name change came about in 1991, to "Sprint," after the acquisition of U.S. Sprint, which was a joint-venture between United Telecom and other telecoms of the day, such as GTE (which itself was acquired by Bell Atlantic, known today as Verizon). While it is unusual for a parent company to adopt the name of its children companies, "Sprint" was chosen because market research had indicated that the name was much more widely recognized by likely consumers. Interestingly, the name "Sprint" was chosen by internal contest by an ancestor company of U.S. Sprint's, Southern Pacific Communications Company (which itself was a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad -- a rail freight company!), wanted to distinguish a communications service of theirs from those of their rivals with a unique name.
In the 1990s, Sprint entered the cellular telephone business through the acquisition of various regional carriers. Market share was increased through carefully vetted partnerships as well as internal consolidation. Closing out the decade, Sprint attempted to merge with the now-defunct MCI WorldCom, which was a major telecommunications company, in what would have been the biggest corporate merger in history then. In the end, it was concern over a resulting monopoly that brought about the heavy pressure from both the United States Department of Justice and the European Union which caused the deal to collapse.
Just slightly over five years later, Sprint became successful in acquiring Nextel (which was a merger in practical terms but legally described as a sale for tax purposes). There was much opposition from regional affiliates of the two companies over non-compete agreement violations, but it was overcome. It was decided both companies would retain their separate brands, as if competing just like before. But most key executives left Nextel after the merger, citing various reasons, including cultural differences between the two organizations. Customers of the two previously distinct companies then had the option of switching services from one to the other. However, such a conversion would have require new equipment.
What will the company be called next -- and when? Only time will tell. The trend among telecommunications companies towards mergers is here to stay, and the only guarantee is that the company's name will change.
About the Author
Article by Paul Wise. Paul has done extensive research on Sprint Cell Phones. Visit Cellular2Buy.com for Sprint CDMA Cell Phones without a contract.
Rail Southern Pacific
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why in southern california there is not one unified rail line?
for example if i want to get to Los Angeles from San Bernardino i will take the metrolink (san bernardino line). but if i want to go from la to pasadena, i have to take the metro (gold line). now if i want to head towards san diego, i have to take amtrack california (pacific surfliner) . then in san diego i will have to take the coaster if i want to head to oceanside and the sprinter if i want to head into escondido . and if i want to head into downtown san Diego i have to take the san diego trolly system. why can there be only one or two rail systems instead of 6
Well JN, I'm from Northern California, but lived in San Diego for 12 years with the Navy and have your answer...
IF you were to take those various lines and look at them on a map... you'd notice that, for the most part, they don't cover more that two counties !! Most of these systems have cropped up in the last 3 decades as traffic has become unbearable, and are designed and funded locally - by "Joint Powers Boards" with additional money from the State.
An example from Northern California would be BART: Opened in 1972, Bay Area Rapid Transit was funded by San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo, and Contra Costa counties... Santa Clara county was a "bedroom community" at the time and hadn't become the Silicon Valley... They also had train service to San Francisco via Southern Pacific, so they opted out of the contract.
Also, in initial design San Mateo County only had 2 stops on it's northern border with San Francisco County... not even a line to the San Francisco International Airport (which is in the heart of San Mateo County). SO, while BART was it's own entity, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties spent their money on the roads and bus systems.
Just a few years later in 1977, Southern Pacific got permission to STOP the commuter line from Santa Clara to San Francisco... and in 1987 it was restarted under the name CALTRAIN, operated by the Penisula Joint Powers Board, and funded by the State, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
NOW, BART has expanded to the Airport, but no further south. It has also expanded greatly in Alameda and Contra Costa counties into newly grown bedroom communites. HOWEVER, it refuses to extend into Santa Clara county UNLESS that county pays Billions to "pay" for not joining back in the 1970's.
Interestingly... in the 90's, another train system arose to help the dot-com commuters. ACE Altamont Communter Express runs on UP tracks from Stockton to San Jose. Hundreds of thousands of folks had moved from the expensive housing of the Bay Area to the San Joaquin Valley (Stockton), but kept their Silicon Valley jobs. At the time, the commute by car was 3-4 hours... the train was 3 hours (and you can sleep or work).
WHY multiple systems ?? The counties have organized them as the need sprouted up... there is no "State" control. California ALSO took over in state routes from Amtrak, forming Cal-Amtrak.