The year 2005 was a banner year for Sprint, as the company finalized its merger of equals with Nextel to form the Sprint Nextel Corp.

Equally exciting is the progress made in 2005 in preparing for the spinoff of Sprint's local division to become the largest independent telecommunications company in the U S. The launch of the new company, named EMBARQ, will be the highlight of 2006 as the company begins to develop new products and services and renew its focus on its local markets.

"Separating the local telephone operations from the merged Sprint Nextel serves the best interests of local telephone customers, employees, shareholders and the communities we serve," said Theresa Brick, Sprint public affairs manager. "We can build on our solid foundation of communications innovation, launching new products and services for our customers' benefit."

Sprint provides local phone service in Butler County including Prospect, Slippery Rock and Eau Claire. The company opened a new retail store in Butler offering Sprint customers products and services including high-speed Internet, wireless, satellite TV and local and long-distance plans.

As the year progresses, the new local company has several new products and services planned for 2006.

The company hopes to launch new handsets in 2006 to help consumers communicate on both wireline and wireless networks with just one device. These handsets can be used within the home to make and receive calls using a wireline network, and on-the-go as a mobile phone. It also is capable of synchronizing with the address and phone book on your mobile phone.

Another device under review is the "Smart Network Phone" for business customers. It has the ability to move calls between the wireline and wireless networks based on signal strength. This will give business customers the ability to reduce their use of wireless minutes when they are within range of the wireline network. The company plans to trial this during the first half of this year.

Sprint's new local company also expects to launch a series of new offers for residential customers buying voice and/or high-speed Internet (HSI) services.

This year, Sprint will once again sponsor the Butler Leaders of Tomorrow program in the Butler County area recognizing young leaders for their community volunteerism, academic success and extracurricular activities. The company will award $2,000 in scholarships as part of the program.

In 2005, Sprint supported dozens of organizations, programs and projects in Butler County including the Associated Artists of Butler County, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Butler County Chamber of Commerce, Butler Memorial Hospital, Freedom Celebration, Heroes of the Homeland, Lifesteps, Musical Theatre Guild, Penn Theater marquee restoration, Ring in the Arts, Rotary, Spirit of Christmas Parade, YMCA, YWCA and the United Way.