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Sprint Nextel Corporation

A wireless carrier that grew out of a Kansas telephone company founded in 1899, Sprint merged with Nextel in 2005 to form Sprint Nextel Corporation, pairing its mobile network with Nextel's Direct Connect push-to-talk walkie-talkie service used by businesses and public safety crews. The name "Sprint" is an acronym for "Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony," chosen in an internal contest after the railroad began selling long-distance service over its own microwave lines. T-Mobile absorbed the company in 2020.