	sprint optimistic despite losses us sprint the telephone venture of gte corp gte and united telecommunications inc ut set up last june is optimistic despite expecting to report a net loss of about mln dlrs this year david m holland president of us sprint s dallas based southwest division told reuters in an interview that he did not know what it would report for the first quarter but agreed that for the year the company should have about the same results as last year when it lost about mln dlrs he noted the company was slated to spend billion dlrs over two plus years to set up its network holland added that sprint was still paying almost mln dlrs a year to american telephone and telegraph co t in order to lease its lines he said miles of its mile fiber optic telephone line are now in the ground and miles are operable by the end of the year he said pct of the company s subscribers will be carried on its fiber optic lines instead of leased att lines compared with pct by the end of the second quarter fiber optic lines which send digital light impulses along microscopic glass lines is quicker more accurate and more economical than traditional copper cables a fiber optic line the diameter of a dime can carry the same amount of information as a copper cable feet in diameter by the end of the year we will have the capacity to carry pct of all u s long distance phone calls holland said he said att currently controls about pct of the u s long distance market with mci communications corp mcic about to pct and sprint five to seven pct holland said sprint s rates which were pct lower than att when it did not pay to gain access to local telephone exchanges were now about to pct lower now that all the companies have equal access he said the company was cutting back its advertising by about pct this year at the same time he said sprint had increased its total number of customers to four mln from two mln from july to last january we ve captured the fiber high ground shown the importance of it he said concerning the deregulation of att holland said he believed att should be given some flexibility but should be regulated on pricing plans they re so dominant in the market place he said adding that att should be deregulated when there is true competition in the marketplace it takes time to prove ourselves and a lot of money he said adding maybe two to four years out it s hard to say holland said he was not concerned about talk that sprint s two owners might be squabbling or that corporate raiders such as the belzberg family in canada might be putting pressure on them to sell off their loss making sprint holdings they are two excellent partners who have stated time and time again their support of us sprint he said adding that he was amazed at industry talk that the two companies might be arguing there s no evidence of that he said he said sprint s progress in such areas as revenues number of customers and construction was on track even ahead in many areas looking beyond the united states holland said sprint currently had direct access to countries and aimed to be in pct of the free world nations by we want to be in every country that att serves he said he said sprint currently does not have access to mexico but was working on it he noted negotiations between mexico and gte sprint the forerunner of us sprint had been broken off by the september earthquake which had devastated the nation s telephone network reuter 
