Sprint Earns Best Practices Award for Its Video Relay Services from ABILITY Magazine
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OVERLAND PARK, Kan., April 27, 2011 - Sprint (NYSE:S) today announced that it has earned ABILITY Magazine's Best Practices Award for its "innovative implementation of Video Relay Service and for its spirit of inclusion, both in the workplace and in the consumer marketplace."
ABILITY Magazine, ranked 13th on the list of Top 50 Magazines in the World, is the leader in covering health, disability and human potential. The award-winning publication has for 20 years made it its mission to "provide new insights into our individual levels of ability."
Sprint Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) enable text-telephone (TTY) callers and hearing callers to communicate with one another through trained relay operators.
According to ABILITY, "Like many of the most successful businesses, Sprint recognizes that its prosperity rests in its ability to appeal to a diverse spread of consumers, an awareness that is expertly reflected in the broad accessibility of their services. (Sprint) has, in fact, applied its considerable influence and ingenuity to improving the ease of communication for people with disabilities - particularly for the 24 million Americans who are deaf or hard-of-hearing."
The magazine noted Sprint's pioneering work with CapTel® - a closed-captioned telephone service provided by Sprint. "With the aid of this innovative new technology, users can read captions on a built-in screen while in conversation. This advancement allows for a more natural, emotionally accurate dialogue between participants by eliminating or reducing the need for a third-party translator."
ABILITY also highlighted Sprint's 4G network as a means of taking deaf and hard-of-hearing customers into a future that facilitates "barrier-free access to the telephone." The magazine further highlighted Sprint Mobile Video Relay Service, a free application that connects deaf or hard-of-hearing with quality video interpreters who relay phone calls. "The company's 'flexible messaging' services expands its theme of inclusion even further, allowing customers with deafness or speech-related disabilities a customizable text messaging service via their Sprint wireless phones."
Mike Ellis, Sprint Relay director, said, "It's an honor to be named a Best Practices Award winner by ABILITY. Our goal for more than 20 years has been to offer the latest communications technology and best quality service to the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Increasingly, honors like this indicate that we're achieving our goal."
Sprint was recently named by Forbes as one of 2010's "Top 20 Most Responsible Companies" for advanced policies on diversity. Sprint has held a 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index for six consecutive years.
ABILITY Magazine
ABILITY Magazine is currently ranked 13th on the Top 50 Magazines in the World - and is the leading magazine covering health, disability and human potential. We are an award-winning publication, distributed by Time-Warner. For nearly 20 years, our mission has been to provide new insights into our individual levels of ability. From diabetes to spinal cord injury and celebrity interviews to CEO profiles, ABILITY covers the latest on health, environmental protection, assistive technology, employment, sports, travel, universal design, mental health and much more. Our writers include MDs, PhDs, JDs, best-selling authors, U.S. senators and advocates. Cover interviews consist of movie and TV celebrities, sports figures, business leaders, presidents, first ladies and more.
About Sprint Relay
Sprint is the largest and most technologically advanced Telecommunications Relay Service provider in the nation, providing relay services for 31 states and the federal government, in addition to New Zealand and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Sprint has more than 20 years of experience in providing relay services to persons who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind or have a speech disability to communicate over the phone. Sprint's relay services are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with no restriction on the number of calls placed or call length. For more information, visit www.sprintrelay.com.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, business and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 49.9 million customers at the end of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation's greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and http://www.twitter.com/sprint.
