Sprint Corp. ended its landline voice service for business customers on Friday, the end of a century-long legacy, the carrier announced in a customer advisory.
Sprint’s (NYSE: S) predecessor, the Brown Telephone Co., started its first long-distance circuit in 1900.
“The telecommunications industry is constantly changing and improving. These products are end-of-life and the industry is moving away from Legacy voice,” the company wrote. “Due to changing market conditions, Sprint has determined that it should discontinue offering Sprint wireline business long distance voice services over legacy technology and focus on the going demand for new technology VoIP services.”
The carrier will shift remaining customers on its traditional landline platform to its VoIP services. The announcement follows a steady shift away from traditional landline voice calls. In terms of revenue, Sprint saw $5.04 billion from the segment in 2010, which has shrunk to $2.04 billion in 2016. Its voice segment, unsurprisingly, changed the most: It decreased from $2.25 billion in 2010 to $649 million in 2016.
In its most recent annual report, Sprint noted that it would focus on IP-based data services and de-emphasize stand-alone voice services in its wireline segment. At the time, it still offered stand-alone voice services, primarily to business customers.
In 2015, Sprint requested permission from the Federal Communications Commission to discontinue its wireline consumer long-distance services. Sprint had already stopped offering the services to new customers but sought permission to end the service for existing landline customers who could switch to voice-over-IP (VoIP) or another provider.
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