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95-594: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opened the National Do Not Call Registry in order to comply with the Do-Not-Call Implementation Act of 2003 ( Pub. L.   108–10 (text) (PDF) , was H.R. 395 , and codified at 15 U.S.C.   § 6101 et seq.), sponsored by Representatives Billy Tauzin and John Dingell and signed into law by President George W. Bush on March 11, 2003. The law established

190-555: A $ 129 billion merger agreement between the two companies. The deal would have been the largest corporate merger in history at the time. However, due to pressure from the United States Department of Justice and the European Union on concerns of it creating a monopoly, the deal did not go through. In 1999, Sprint began recombining its local telecom, long-distance, wireline, and wireless business units into

285-523: A 33 percent stake in the music streaming service Tidal . Sprint derives revenue as a wireline IP network operator and as a long-distance telephony provider. Sprint is the United States' fourth largest long-distance provider by subscribers. In 2006, Sprint Nextel exited the local landline telephone business, spinning those assets off into a newly created company named Embarq , which CenturyTel acquired in 2008 to form CenturyLink . SprintLink

380-581: A driver of inflation for grocery prices. In August 2024, it announced it would be probing grocery prices to look for anti-competitive behavior and price gouging at chain supermarkets. In 2023, the FTC proposed a new rule that would ensure that the cancellation process of subscription services is as easy as the process of signing up. On October 16, 2024, the FTC announced the new rule, dubbed "click to cancel", requiring companies to make subscription services "as easy for consumers to cancel their enrollment as it

475-450: A fact that was only disclosed in legalese, buried within the end user license agreement. The FTC secured a consent decree in the case. In In re Gateway Learning Corp. the FTC alleged that Gateway committed unfair and deceptive trade practices by making retroactive changes to its privacy policy without informing customers and by violating its own privacy policy by selling customer information when it had said it would not. Gateway settled

570-465: A federal court in Texas overturned the FTC's ban on non-compete agreements, which was originally scheduled to take effect on September 4, 2024. U.S. District Judge Ada Brown said the FTC did not have the authority to issue the ban, which she said was "unreasonably overbroad without a reasonable explanation." Victoria Graham, an FTC spokeswoman responded to the ruling by stating "We are seriously considering

665-414: A few key Nextel executives remained, with many former Nextel middle- and upper-level managers having left, citing reasons including the unbridgeable cultural difference between the two companies. In 2006, Sprint spun off its local telephone operations, including the former United Telephone companies and Centel , as Embarq . Sprint's acquisition of Nextel was a disaster from a fiscal standpoint in 2008,

760-480: A fine of US$ 50.1 million on OMICS companies. OMICS' lawyer said that this was an unfair allegation and that OMICS would sue FTC for $ 3.11 billion in damages, saying it had caused loss of revenue and reputation. In In the Matter of Sears Holdings Management Corp. , the FTC alleged that a research software program provided by Sears was deceptive because it collected information about nearly all online behavior,

855-577: A home phone or a personal cell phone is required to specify details of the infraction to the FCC. Typically this includes facts such as when the call occurred, the phone number called, the calling organization, the goods or services being marketed, and whether the caller has any exemption status. Details of these rules can be found on the FCC's complaint form. Many journalists and victims of fraudulent calls and Do-Not-Call violations have extensively documented ongoing and widespread inaction and lack of enforcement by

950-424: A nationwide network to provide wireless personal communications service (PCS), and also affirm their support for a single integrated offering of wireless, local telephone and long distance services in a package with cable television service In 1995, Sprint and its cable television associates entered into a partnership with American Personal Communications (APC) to create a digital wireless network. In November 1995,

1045-480: A new company, in an initiative known internally as "One Sprint". In April 2004, the separately traded wireless tracking stock PCS was absorbed into the New York Stock Exchange FON ticker symbol, Sprint's former ticker symbol (FON stood for "Fiber Optic Network", but was also a homophone of the word "phone"). This was challenged in many lawsuits by Sprint PCS shareholders who felt their stock

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1140-404: A person does not want to register a number on the national registry, they can still prohibit individual telemarketers from calling by asking the caller to put the called number on the company's do-not-call list. The do-not-call list was slated to take effect on October 1, 2003, but two federal district court decisions almost delayed it. One from Oklahoma was overcome by special legislation giving

1235-410: A potential appeal..." The FTC successfully blocked Nvidia from purchasing ARM holdings in 2022. The FTC has pursued lawsuits against companies to lower drug prices, including for insulin and for inhalers. The FTC launched its investigation into pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in 2022. In July 2024, it released an interim report on its 2-year investigation into pharmacy benefit managers ,

1330-400: A rumor began circulating via e-mail that cell phone providers were planning on making their number directories available to telemarketers. The FTC responded by clarifying that cell phones cannot legally be called by telemarketers. Similarly, fax numbers do not need to be included in the registry due to existing federal laws and regulations that prohibit the sending of unsolicited faxes . If

1425-417: A separate entity, and will remain a CDMA carrier until it is an all-LTE carrier. On April 15, 2013, Dish Network announced a higher bid for Sprint Nextel than the offer placed by SoftBank, with a $ 25.5 billion offer. On June 18, 2013, Dish retracted its bid and decided that it would instead focus on its intent to purchase Clearwire , however on June 26, 2013, Dish also retracted its bid for Clearwire, leaving

1520-783: A slightly amended version of his bill during the April 1913 special session. The national debate culminated in Wilson's signing of the FTC Act on September 26, 1914, with additional tightening of regulations in the Clayton Antitrust Act three weeks later. The new FTC would absorb the staff and duties of Bureau of Corporations , previously established under the Department of Commerce and Labor in 1903. The FTC could additionally challenge "unfair methods of competition" and enforce

1615-425: A strategic alliance with Call-Net Enterprises, a Canadian long-distance service provider, and bought 25 percent of the company. Call-Net's long-distance service was renamed "Sprint Canada" and expanded to include landline and internet services. In 2005, Call-Net and Sprint Canada's 600,000 customers were acquired by Rogers Communications . In March 1993, Sprint merged with Chicago's Centel Corp. Centel remained in

1710-518: A subsidiary of T-Mobile until the Sprint brand officially discontinued in the beginning of August. Leadership, background, and stock changes happened immediately, with customer-side changes happening over time. The Sprint brand officially discontinued on August 2, 2020. Billing was already showing the T-Mobile brand, and on this date all retail, customer service, and all other company branding switched to

1805-487: A year after the Do Not Call list was implemented, found that people who registered for the list saw a reduction in telemarketing calls from an average of 30 calls per month to an average of 6 per month. Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission ( FTC ) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and

1900-410: Is a global Tier 1 Internet service provider network, operating an 100G Internet backbone . Customers include large multinational corporations , government agencies, retail and restaurant chains, Tier 2 and Tier 3 ISPs, and medium-to-small businesses. SprintLink has physical presence in 155 countries, including the United States, Western Europe, East Asia, Australia, and India. The network wraps all

1995-573: Is responsible for the United States National Do Not Call Registry . Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company . Before being acquired by T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 million customers as of June 30, 2019. The company also offered wireless voice, messaging, and broadband services through its various subsidiaries under

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2090-660: Is the Dove Foundation , which places "survey" calls and then requests permission for a follow-up call. The follow-up call is conducted by a for-profit company attempting to sell products. This operation resulted in a restraining order in Missouri in March 2006. Complaints concerning telemarketing calls to homes and personal cell phones can be made to the Federal Communications Commission and

2185-604: The Boost Mobile and Open Mobile brands and wholesale access to its wireless networks to mobile virtual network operators . In July 2013, majority ownership of the company was purchased by the Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank Group . Sprint used CDMA , EvDO and 4G LTE networks, and formerly operated iDEN , WiMAX , and 5G NR networks. Sprint was incorporated in Kansas. Sprint traced its origins to

2280-678: The Federal Trade Commission . The Federal Communications Commission has created rules implementing the National Do-Not-Call Implementation Act. These rules are codified at the Code of Federal Regulations, title 47, Section 64.1200. The rules should be consulted in order to determine whether a particular incident violated the rules and can result in enforcement. In order to create an actionable complaint pursuant to FCC rules, an individual with

2375-440: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), although a fax service (called SpeedFAX) was permitted. In the mid-1970s, SPC held a contest to select a new name for the company. The winning entry was "SPRINT", an acronym for "Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony". In 1982, it was announced that GTE Corp. had reached an agreement to buy SPC's long-distance telephone operation, including Sprint. The deal

2470-463: The 1912 election. Most political party platforms in 1912 endorsed the establishment of a federal trade commission with its regulatory powers placed in the hands of an administrative board, as an alternative to functions previously and necessarily exercised so slowly through the courts. With the 1912 presidential election decided in favor of the Democrats and Woodrow Wilson , Morgan reintroduced

2565-537: The 2009 Economic Report of the President, prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers, The program has proved quite popular: as of 2007, according to one survey, 72 percent of Americans had registered on the list, and 77 percent of those say that it made a large difference in the number of telemarketing calls that they receive (another 14 percent report a small reduction in calls). Another survey, conducted less than

2660-570: The Brown Telephone Company and Southern Pacific Railroad . Brown Telephone Company was founded in 1899 by Cleyson Brown , to deploy the first telephone service to the rural area around Abilene, Kansas . The Browns installed their first long-distance circuit in 1900 and became an alternative to the Bell Telephone Company , the most popular telephone service at the time. In 1911, C. L. Brown consolidated

2755-541: The Brown Telephone Company with three other independents to form the United Telephone Company . C. L. Brown formed United Telephone and Electric (UT&E) in 1925. In 1939, at the end of the Great Depression , UT&E reorganized to form United Utilities . In 1964, Paul H. Henson became president of United Utilities; two years later, he was named chairman. When Henson began working at

2850-486: The Brown Telephone Company, which was founded in 1899 to bring telephone service to the rural area around Abilene , Kansas . In 2006, Sprint left the local landline telephone business and spun those assets off into a new company named Embarq , which later became a part of Lumen Technologies under the CenturyLink brand, which remains one of the largest long-distance providers in the United States. Until 2005,

2945-657: The Bureau of Competition, the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and the Bureau of Economics. The Bureau of Competition is the division of the FTC charged with elimination and prevention of "anticompetitive" business practices. It accomplishes this through the enforcement of antitrust laws, review of proposed mergers , and investigation into other non-merger business practices that may impair competition. Such non-merger practices include horizontal restraints, involving agreements between direct competitors, and vertical restraints , involving agreements among businesses at different levels in

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3040-570: The Chicago area and was renamed Sprint Cellular Co. In 1994, Sprint spun off their existing cellular operations as 360° Communications to comply with an FCC regulatory mandate. In 1998, 360 Communications was acquired by Alltel , which was in turn acquired by Verizon in 2009. In 1994, Sprint announces plans for a powerful new venture with three of the nation's major cable television companies, Tele-Communications Inc. (TCI), Comcast Corp. and Cox Cable . The four companies outline plans to build

3135-518: The Clayton Act's more specific prohibitions against certain price discrimination, vertical arrangements, interlocking directorates , and stock acquisitions. In 1984, the FTC began to regulate the funeral home industry in order to protect consumers from deceptive practices. The FTC Funeral Rule requires funeral homes to provide all customers (and potential customers) with a General Price List (GPL), specifically outlining goods and services in

3230-693: The Commission authorized filing a lawsuit for civil penalties. In addition, the funeral homes participate in the NFDA compliance program, which includes a review of the price lists, on-site training of the staff, and follow-up testing and certification on compliance with the Funeral Rule ." In the mid-1990s, the FTC launched the fraud sweeps concept where the agency and its federal, state, and local partners filed simultaneous legal actions against multiple telemarketing fraud targets. The first sweeps operation

3325-628: The Connected Officer program for the Los Angeles Police Department in partnership with Samsung , VMware , and Prodapt. Sprint wireline is also responsible for traditional telecommunications relay service (TRS), speech to speech relay service (STS), and captioned telephone service (CTS). Sprint is in the process of upgrading these services from a TDM network to an IP-based network Sprint Corporation offered postpaid wireless voice and data services primarily under

3420-601: The FTC specific jurisdiction over the matter. The other from Colorado revolved around questions of regulation of commercial speech and threatened to delay implementation of the list. However, President Bush signed a bill authorizing the no-call list to go ahead in September 2003. Finally, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit on February 17, 2004, upheld the constitutionality of

3515-637: The FTC authorized an administrative complaint against the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard , Inc. The FTC alleged the deal would suppress competitors from accessing future content/games developed by Activision once the deal goes through. The FTC dropped its lawsuit on July 20, 2023. Microsoft had to restructure its deal to appease UK regulators. Microsoft reneged on promises it made in court filings by laying off 1900 employees in January 2024, signaling that it did not plan to let Activision Blizzard remain as independent as it had promised and leading

3610-526: The FTC has enforced the provisions of the Clayton Act , a key antitrust statute, as well as the provisions of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C.   § 41 et seq. Over time, the FTC has been delegated with the enforcement of additional business regulation statutes and has promulgated a number of regulations (codified in Title 16 of the Code of Federal Regulations ). The broad statutory authority granted to

3705-539: The FTC provides it with more surveillance and monitoring abilities than it actually uses. The FTC is composed of five commissioners, who each serve seven-year terms. Members of the commission are nominated by the President and subject to Senate confirmation, and no more than three FTC members can be of the same party . One member of the body serves as FTC Chair at the President's pleasure, with Commissioner Lina Khan having served as chair since June 2021. Following

3800-517: The FTC sued Meta (formally known as Facebook) for anticompetitive conduct under Section 2 of the Sherman Act , which prohibits improper monopolization of a market. The FTC accused Meta of buying up its competitors to stifle competition which reduced the range of services available to consumers and by creating fewer social media platforms for advertisers to target. In September 2013, a federal court closed an elusive business opportunity scheme on

3895-555: The FTC to continue to appeal the decision. In July 2021, the FTC voted unanimously to enforce the right to repair as policy and to look to take action against companies that limit the type of repair work that can be done at independent repair shops. In October 2024, following a comment by the FTC to the US Copyright Office , an exemption was granted allowing for repair of retail-level food preparation equipment, such as McDonald's ice cream machines . In December 2020

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3990-548: The FTC's National Do Not Call Registry in order to facilitate compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 . A guide by FTC addresses a number of cases. Registration for the Do-Not-Call list began on June 27, 2003, and enforcement started on October 1, 2003. Since January 1, 2005, telemarketers covered by the registry have up to 31 days (initially the period was 90 days) from

4085-597: The FTC's success in blocking or unwinding of hospital consolidations or affiliations: In 2011, the FTC successfully challenged in court the $ 195 million acquisition of Palmyra Medical Center by Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital. The FTC alleged that the transaction would create a monopoly as it would "reduce competition significantly and allow the combined Phoebe/Palmyra to raise prices for general acute-care hospital services charged to commercial health plans, substantially harming patients and local employers and employees". The Supreme Court on February 19, 2013, ruled in favor of

4180-408: The FTC. In November 2024, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta agreed with Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and FTC Chair Khan, ruling the company a monopoly, and ordering Google to sell its Chrome web browser. The FTC ruled to ban virtually all non-competes nationwide in April 2024. The agency estimates 30 million workers are bound by these clauses and only excludes senior executives from

4275-469: The FTC. Similarly, court attempts by ProMedica health system in Ohio to overturn an order by the FTC to the company to unwind its 2010 acquisition of St. Luke's hospital were unsuccessful. The FTC claimed that the acquisition would hurt consumers through higher premiums because insurance companies would be required to pay more. In December 2011, an administrative judge upheld the FTC's decision, noting that

4370-399: The FTC. In May 2014 Sprint Corporation was fined a record $ 7.5 million for failing to honor requests by consumers to opt out of receiving telemarketing calls and texts. The fine followed an investigation that had begun in 2012. "We expect companies to respect the privacy of consumers who have opted out of marketing calls," Travis LeBlanc, acting chief of the FCC's enforcement bureau, said at

4465-408: The FTC. They were banned from processing credit card transactions, though the initial monetary judgment of $ 5.8 million was suspended due to the defendant's inability to pay. In 2016, the FTC launched action against the academic journal publisher OMICS Publishing Group for producing predatory journals and organizing predatory conferences . This action, partly in response to ongoing pressure from

4560-640: The Nextel brand to set up networks in many Latin American countries. Following Sprint's purchase of Nextel, Nextel sold all of its investment in NII Holdings. The integration process was difficult due to disparate network technologies. Sprint tried to address this with the advent of PowerSource phones. These phones routed voice call and data services over Sprint's PCS spectrum while maintaining DirectConnect services over 800 MHz spectrum. However, this

4655-547: The Rockford area and would have a market share of 64%. Later in 2012, OSF announced that it had abandoned its plans to acquire Rockford Health System. The commission is headed by five commissioners, who each serve seven-year terms. Commissioners are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate . No more than three commissioners can be of the same political party . In practice, this means that two commissioners are of

4750-561: The Sprint brand. The Sprint Prepaid Group was a division of the company formed in May 2010 that is responsible for the operations of Sprint's pre-pay subsidiaries. SPG's branded products and services are sold via web and available at retailers nationwide, including Best Buy , Walmart , Target and other independent dealers. Boost Worldwide, Inc. was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sprint that provides nationwide, prepaid wireless voice, messaging and broadband data products and services to customers in

4845-553: The Supreme Court decisions against Standard Oil and American Tobacco in May 1911, the first version of a bill to establish a commission to regulate interstate trade was introduced on January 25, 1912, by Oklahoma congressman Dick Thompson Morgan . He would make the first speech on the House floor advocating its creation on February 21, 1912. Though the initial bill did not pass, the questions of trusts and antitrust dominated

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4940-450: The T-Mobile brand. New rate plans were also introduced as well for all new and existing customers from both companies, though all will be grandfathered into their current plan for at least 3 years should they choose not to switch to a new T-Mobile plan. Customers with Sprint accounts were fully migrated to T-Mobile in the summer of 2023 officially discontinuing the Sprint brand. The Sprint Corporation traces its origins to two companies,

5035-849: The academic community, is the first action taken by the FTC against an academic journal publisher. The complaint alleges that the defendants have been "deceiving academics and researchers about the nature of its publications and hiding publication fees ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars". It additionally notes that "OMICS regularly advertises conferences featuring academic experts who were never scheduled to appear in order to attract registrants" and that attendees "spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on registration fees and travel costs to attend these scientific conferences." Manuscripts are also sometimes held hostage, with OMICS refusing to allow submissions to be withdrawn and thereby preventing resubmission to another journal for consideration. Library scientist Jeffrey Beall has described OMICS as among

5130-553: The agency also alleged that the companies created a rebate system that prioritized high rebates from drug manufacturers, among other factors. The agency stated that several PBMs failed to provide documents in a timely manner and warned that it could take the companies to court to force them to comply, during the announcment in the preliminary findings. In September 2024, the FTC sued the three largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive practices that increased their profits while artificially inflating

5225-473: The agency requested documents from the six largest PBMs as part of its investigation. The three largest – UnitedHealth Group's OptumRx , Cigna's Express Scripts and CVS Health's Caremark – manage about 80% of U.S. prescriptions. The top three PBMs share a parent company with a large medical insurance company . The FTC accused these companies of raising drug prices through conflicts of interest , vertical integration , concentration, and exclusivity provisions;

5320-529: The ban on enforcing non-competes. The agency believes that this will allow workers to find better working conditions and pay, since switching companies, on average, provides the biggest pay raises. It also allows workers to leave abusive work environments and can prevent some doctors from having to leave medicine once they leave a practice. The ban was put on hold by U.S. District Judge Ada Brown on July 3, 2024, but then upheld on appeal by U.S. District Judge Kelley B. Hodge on July 23, 2024. On August 20, 2024,

5415-459: The behavior of ProMedica health system and St. Luke's was indeed anticompetitive. The court ordered ProMedica to divest St. Luke's to a buyer that would be approved by the FTC within 180 days of the date of the order. In November 2011, the FTC filed a lawsuit alleging that the proposed acquisition of Rockford by OSF would drive up prices for general acute-care inpatient services as OSF would face only one competitor (SwedishAmerican health system) in

5510-406: The company wrote down $ 29.7 billion of the $ 36 billion sum it had paid for Nextel in 2005, wiping out 80 percent of the value of Nextel at the time it had been acquired. The write down reflected the depreciation in Nextel's goodwill since the date of acquisition. Prior to their merger, Sprint and Nextel were dependent on a network of affiliated companies. Following the announcement of

5605-595: The company began to offer wireless service under the Sprint Spectrum brand in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area . This was the first commercial Personal Communications Service (PCS) network in the United States. Although the Sprint PCS service was CDMA , the original Washington-area network used GSM . Eventually, Sprint launched its new nationwide CDMA network, then in 1999 sold

5700-576: The company for the first time. In 1990, Henson retired from United Telecommunications; by this time the company's revenues had grown to $ 8 billion. Sprint also traces its roots back to the Southern Pacific Railroad (SPR), which was founded in the 1860s as a subsidiary of the Southern Pacific Company (SPC). The company operated thousands of miles of track as well as telegraph wire that ran along those tracks. In

5795-498: The company in 1959, it had 575,000 telephones in 15 states and revenues of $ 65 million. Henson is credited with creating the first major fiber optic network, having recognized it as a way to handle more calls and provide better quality sound. In 1972, United Utilities changed its name to United Telecommunications . In 1980, United Telecommunications began working on a 23,000 mile fiber optic network for long-distance calls. In 1989, this long-distance business became profitable for

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5890-551: The company to 80%. On November 7, 2012, Sprint Nextel announced the acquisition of 20 MHz of spectrum and 585,000 customers from U.S. Cellular in Chicago, St. Louis, central Illinois and three other Midwest markets. The deal was expected to close in mid-2013. Prior to July 9, 2013, Sprint Nextel only owned a 50.8% equity interest in Clearwire Corporation ; On December 17, 2012, Sprint Nextel agreed to pay US$ 2.97 per share, US$ 2.2 billion in total, to purchase

5985-566: The company was also known as the Sprint Corporation, but took the name Sprint Nextel Corporation when it merged with Nextel Communications and adopted its black and yellow color scheme, along with a new logo. In 2013, following the shutdown of the Nextel network and concurrent with the acquisition by SoftBank, the company resumed using the name Sprint Corporation. In July 2013, as part of the SoftBank transactions, Sprint acquired

6080-550: The company. United Telecom announced it would complete its acquisition of US Sprint on April 18, 1990. United Telecom later officially changed its name to Sprint Corporation to capitalize on its brand recognition. Sprint Corporation entered the Canadian market in the early 1990s as a reseller of bulk long-distance telephone lines that it bought from domestic companies. Under Canadian foreign ownership regulations, Sprint could not open its own network. In 1993, Sprint entered into

6175-542: The complaint by entering into a consent decree with the FTC that required it to surrender some profits and placed restrictions upon Gateway for the following 20 years. In addition to prospective analysis of the effects of mergers and acquisitions, the FTC has recently resorted to retrospective analysis and monitoring of consolidated hospitals. Thus, it also uses retroactive data to demonstrate that some hospital mergers and acquisitions are hurting consumers, particularly in terms of higher prices. Here are some recent examples of

6270-538: The date a number is registered to cease calling that number. Originally, phone numbers remained on the registry for a period of five years, but are now permanent because of the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, effective February 2008. Consumers may add landline or cellular numbers to the registry, but FCC regulations prohibit telemarketers from calling a cellular phone number with an automatic dialer under almost all circumstances. In 2005,

6365-489: The deal, the company entered into a partnership with Sprint to serve as co-tenants in 1,435 of its locations, beginning on April 10, 2015. Roughly a third of the retail space in each location is dedicated to Sprint products and services, and the stores will ultimately adopt Sprint as their primary brand in place of RadioShack. Sprint stated that this deal would increase the company's retail footprint by more than double. On January 23, 2017, Sprint announced that they were buying

6460-439: The decommissioned GSM infrastructure to Omnipoint which re-launched in May 2000. Omnipoint was later acquired by VoiceStream Wireless, which like Sprint would eventually be acquired by T-Mobile. In September 1996, Sprint announced a deal with RadioShack , and in 1997, Sprint stores opened at RadioShack to offer communications services and products across the United States. On October 5, 1999, Sprint and MCI WorldCom announced

6555-412: The defendants from falsely representing that their journals engage in peer review, that their journals are included in any academic journal indexing service or any measurement of the extent to which their journals are cited. It also requires that the defendants clearly and conspicuously disclose all costs associated with submitting or publishing articles in their journals." In April 2019, the court imposed

6650-636: The early 1970s, the company began looking for ways to use its existing communications lines for long-distance calling. This division of the business was named the Southern Pacific Communications Company. By the mid 1970s, SPC was beginning to take business away from AT&T , which held a monopoly at the time. A number of lawsuits between SPC and AT&T took place throughout the 1970s; the majority were decided in favor of increased competition. Prior attempts at offering long-distance voice services had not been approved by

6745-567: The funeral industry, as defined by the FTC, and a listing of their prices. By law, the GPL must be presented on request to all individuals, and no one is to be denied a written, retainable copy of the GPL. In 1996, the FTC instituted the Funeral Rule Offenders Program (FROP), under which "funeral homes make a voluntary payment to the U.S. Treasury or appropriate state fund for an amount less than what would likely be sought if

6840-489: The law. Placing one's number on the National Do Not Call Registry will stop some, but not all, unsolicited calls. The following are exceptions granted by existing laws and regulations—and these types of organizations can register with donotcall.gov and can purchase telephone lists from the Do Not Call Registry Some attempts have been made by telemarketers to skirt the do-not-call list rules. An example

6935-530: The list price of insulin. The agency is seeking to prohibit the PBMs from favoring medicines because certain pharaceuticals make them more money. In February 2024, the FTC challenged the Kroger-Albertsons merger , arguing it would drive up grocery and pharmacy prices, worsen service, and lower wages and working conditions. In March 2024, the FTC released a report that found higher profit margins as

7030-491: The merger agreement, some of these affiliates came forward with strong opposition to the Sprint-Nextel merger on the grounds that the merged company might violate existing agreements or significantly undercut earnings to these affiliates. In order for Sprint Nextel to allay some of this opposition, they initiated discussions of either acquiring some of these affiliates or renegotiating existing agreements. In several cases,

7125-513: The most egregious of predatory publishers . In November 2017, a federal court in the Court for the District of Nevada granted a preliminary injunction that: "prohibits the defendants from making misrepresentations regarding their academic journals and conferences, including that specific persons are editors of their journals or have agreed to participate in their conferences. It also prohibits

7220-578: The newly formed company was forced to acquire affiliated companies in exchange for their dropping their opposition to the merger. Forsee said that the company would likely have to acquire all of its remaining affiliates. In 2005, Sprint Nextel acquired three of its ten wireless affiliates: US Unwired, acquired in August; Gulf Coast Wireless, acquired in October; and IWO Holdings, acquired in October. Alamosa PCS, which Sprint Nextel acquired on February 2, 2006,

7315-450: The opposition party. However, three members of the FTC throughout its history have been without party affiliation , with the most recent independent, Pamela Jones Harbour , serving from 2003 to 2009. (chair) Yale Law School ( JD ) Yale Law School (JD) Yale Law School (JD) University of Utah Law School (JD) University of Virginia School of Law (JD) Notes As of 2021, there have been: The FTC has three main bureaus:

7410-514: The portion of Clearwire shares that Sprint Nextel did not already own. On June 20, 2013, Sprint Nextel increased its offer to $ 5 per share, the transaction was approved by regulators on July 5, 2013, and closed on July 9, 2013, and Sprint Nextel became the complete owner of Clearwire and its assets. On March 31, 2015, the U.S. bankruptcy court approved a $ 160 million takeover of electronics store chain RadioShack by Standard General . As part of

7505-662: The promotion of consumer protection . The FTC shares jurisdiction over federal civil antitrust law enforcement with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division . The agency is headquartered in the Federal Trade Commission Building in Washington, DC . The FTC was established in 1914 with the passage of the Federal Trade Commission Act , signed in response to the 19th-century monopolistic trust crisis. Since its inception,

7600-448: The remaining shares of the wireless broadband carrier Clearwire Corporation that it did not already own. In August 2014, CEO Dan Hesse was replaced by Marcelo Claure . In May 2018, Michel Combes replaced Claure, and had been working to get Sprint's acquisition by its rival T-Mobile through regulatory proceedings. On April 1, 2020, Sprint Corporation completed their acquisition by T-Mobile US , which effectively made Sprint

7695-647: The request of the FTC, namely "Money Now Funding"/"Cash4Businesses". The FTC alleged that the defendants misrepresented potential earnings, violated the National Do Not Call Register , and violated the FTC's Business Opportunity Rule in preventing a fair consumer evaluation of the business. This was one of the first definitive actions taken by any regulator against a company engaging in transaction laundering, where almost US$ 6 million were processed illicitly. In December 2018, two defendants, Nikolas Mihilli and Dynasty Merchants, LLC, settled with

7790-517: The road clear for SoftBank to acquire the company. The United States Federal Communications Commission approved SoftBank's acquisition of a stake in Sprint. The FCC's acting chairwoman Mignon Clyburn and commissioner Ajit Pai both gave statements vociferously supporting the acquisition, saying the deal "serve[s] the public interest". The acquisition was completed on July 10, 2013. On August 6, 2013, SoftBank purchased approximately 2% more shares of Sprint Corporation, increasing its ownership stake in

7885-611: The same industry (such as suppliers and commercial buyers). The FTC shares enforcement of antitrust laws with the Department of Justice . However, while the FTC is responsible for civil enforcement of antitrust laws, the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice has the power to bring both civil and criminal action in antitrust matters. The Bureau of Consumer Protection's mandate is to protect consumers against unfair or deceptive acts or practices in commerce. With

7980-401: The time of the merger announcement, Sprint and Nextel were the third and fifth leading providers in the U.S. mobile phone industry, respectively. Sprint shareholders approved the merger on July 13, 2005. The merger deal was approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and U.S. Department of Justice on August 3, 2005. Sprint Nextel was formed on August 13, 2005, when the deal

8075-471: The time. "When a consumer tells a company to stop calling or texting with promotional pitches, that request must be honored. Today's settlement leaves no question that protecting consumer privacy is a top enforcement priority." On February 15, 2008, U.S. President George W. Bush signed H.R. 3541 into law as Pub. L.   110–187 (text) (PDF) , the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007. Two major changes were enacted through this law: According to

8170-1078: The way around the world with buried fiber optics in the United States and Europe, and undersea fiber in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans. SprintLink is responsible for cable maintenance and administration in the TAT-14 Consortium . In 2008, Sprint was upgrading its SprintLink core to 100 Gbit/s lines to offer increased bandwidth. As of June 2012, Sprint picked Ciena for upgrading its Sprintlink core to 400 Gbit/s speeds. In 2007, Sprint launched Ethernet services over its IP/MPLS network to an initial 40-markets. Sprint later expanded their Ethernet services to 65 markets in September 2011. Sprint then launched Ethernet over copper and Ethernet over DOCSIS in 2016 to complement its Fiber Ethernet offerings. Sprint offers its enterprise customers managed web-based services through its Sprint Web Services program. It allows enterprise customers to create managed web-based applications In 2015, Sprint powered

8265-420: The written consent of the commission, Bureau attorneys enforce federal laws related to consumer affairs and rules promulgated by the FTC. Its functions include investigations, enforcement actions, and consumer and business education. Areas of principal concern for this bureau are: advertising and marketing, financial products and practices, telemarketing fraud , privacy and identity protection, etc. The bureau also

8360-577: Was Project Telesweep in July 1995 which cracked down on 100 business opportunity scams. In the 2021 United States Supreme Court case, AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC , the Court found unanimously that the FTC did not have power under 15 U.S.C.   § 53(b) of the FTC Act, amended in 1973, to seek equitable relief in courts; it had the power to seek only injunctive relief. In 2023, Project 2025 suggested that an administration could abolish

8455-493: Was completed. Sprint and Nextel faced opposition to the merger, mostly from regional affiliates that provided wireless services on behalf of the companies. These regional affiliates felt that the new company would hinder competition. On September 1, 2005, Sprint Nextel combined plan offerings of its Sprint and Nextel brands to bring uniformity across the company's offerings. Nextel has licensed its identity to NII Holdings, Inc. , of which Sprint Nextel owned 18%. NII has used

8550-460: Was devalued because it was trading at the ratio of 1 share of PCS stock for 1/2 share of FON stock. The PCS shareholders claimed a loss of 1.3 billion to 3.4 billion dollars. On December 15, 2004, Sprint Corporation and Nextel Communications announced they would merge to form Sprint Nextel Corporation . The merger was transacted as a purchase of Nextel Communications by Sprint Corporation for tax reasons; Sprint purchased 50.1 percent of Nextel. At

8645-534: Was later finalized in 1983. In 1986, GTE Sprint merged with the United Telecommunications Inc. property, US Telecom. The joint venture was to be co-owned by GTE and United Telecom named US Sprint Communications. The new entity also included communications firm GTE Telenet, and United Telecom Data communications Co., (formerly known as Uninet). In 1988, GTE sold more of Sprint to United Telecom, giving United Telecom operational control of

8740-741: Was not helping the merger effort, sent the wrong message to employees and contributed to the post-merger cultural clash. To resolve the problem, Hesse decided to consolidate all headquarters operations in the Sprint World Headquarters Campus located in Overland Park, Kansas , a suburb in the Kansas City metropolitan area . On October 14, 2012, the Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank announced it intended to purchase 70% of Sprint Nextel Corporation for $ 20.1 billion. SoftBank stated that Sprint will remain

8835-464: Was not sufficient in coverage, due to the inability to roam on a non-PCS spectrum. Top Nextel Executives began leaving the company immediately after the merger closed. Tim Donahue, the Nextel CEO, stayed on as executive chairman, but ceded decision-making authority to Gary D. Forsee . Tom Kelly, COO of Nextel, took an interim staff position as Chief Strategy Officer. Two years after the merger, only

8930-603: Was the largest of its affiliate carriers. Other acquired affiliates include Ubiquitel, iPCS, Enterprise, and Northern. In 2021, after merging with Sprint in 2020, T-Mobile acquired the remaining two of Sprint's original ten affiliates, Shentel and Swiftel. Below are companies which Sprint Corporation has acquired: After the Sprint-Nextel merger, the company maintained an executive headquarters in Reston, Virginia and operational headquarters in Overland Park, Kansas . Sprint CEO Dan Hesse recognized that having two headquarters

9025-468: Was to sign up." Khan said in a interview that the new rule is designed so that if consumers signed up online, they must also be able to cancel on the same website in the same number of steps. The rule’s final provisions will go into effect 180 days after it is published in the Federal Register . It also targeted airlines and credit card companies over junk fees and high prices. In 2023,

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