Sprint reaches directory deal

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Kevin Rademacher

Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 | 11:12 a.m.

Sprint Corp., regulators and the state Bureau of Consumer Protection on Monday agreed to a stipulation on how to treat revenue the phone company received when it sold its directory business last year.

In the deal, which must still be approved by the three-member state Public Utilities Commission, Sprint agreed to add an additional $25 million a year in revenue through 2017. The added revenue should offset rate increase requests the telephone company would seek on basic rate for residential and business customers.

Nevada Consumer Advocate Tim Hay, head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the deal is a good one for customers.

"It's a pretty good chunk of change," he said.

Sprint, the dominant local telephone service provider in the Las Vegas area, has 1,500 local employees and 872,618 local residential and business access lines.

North Carolina-based R.H. Donnelley acquired Sprint's directory business in January 2003 for more than $2.2 billion.

When competing Yellow Book USA announced it was entering the Las Vegas market in June, it said the Las Vegas Valley's yellow pages advertising market is valued at $120 million annually.