EMBARQ
 |
|
| Subsidiary of CenturyLink | |
| Industry | Telecom Service - Domestic |
| Predecessor |
Sprint Sprint Nextel |
| Successor |
CenturyTel CenturyLink |
| Founded | May 17, 2006 |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Overland Park, Kansas, United States |
|
Area served
|
19 states |
| Services | Telecommunications |
| Revenue |
 $6.363 billion USD (2006) |
|
Number of employees
|
18,000 (2007) |
| Parent |
Sprint Nextel (2006) CenturyTel (2009-2010) CenturyLink (2011-present) |
| Subsidiaries |
Centel United Telephone Companies |
| Website | Embarq |
Embarq Corporation (stylized as EMBARQ) was the largest independent local exchange carrier in the United States (below the Baby Bells), 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) of Sprint Nextel until 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.
In 2009, it was purchased by CenturyTel, which rebranded as CenturyLink after the merger.
The Sprint Corporation was founded in 1899 by Cleyson Leroy Brown under the name of the "Brown Telephone Company" in the small town of Abilene, Kansas. The company was a landline telephone company that operated as a competitor to the Bell System.
In 1938, after emerging from bankruptcy, Brown changed its name to United Utilities. 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. In 1980 United Telecom launched a national X.25 data service, Uninet. To enter the long-distance voice market, United Telecom acquired ISACOMM in 1981 and US Telephone in 1984.
Southern Pacific Communications Company (SPCC), a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad, began providing long-distance telephone service shortly after the MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. FCC (Execunet II) decision late in 1978. The Railroad had an extensive microwave communications system along its rights of way used for internal communications. In 1972 they began selling surplus time on that system to corporations for use as their own Private Line Network, thereby circumventing AT&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 the Federal Communications Commission, though the company's fax service (SpeedFAX) had been permitted. SPC was headquartered in Burlingame, California, where Sprint still maintains a technology lab on Adrian Court.
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Wikipedia