He will be succeeded by Christopher J. Rooney, the president of business operations for Sprint's long-distance division.

Mr. LeMay will also be president of United Telecom's long-distance division.

Sprint's long-distance division posted a gain in net income of 28.8 percent, to $67 million, while revenue rose only 1.5 percent, to $1.34 billion.

Some analysts said that Bell Atlantic had stopped hiring executives for its long-distance division.

While the Bell companies have operated long-distance divisions for years, they typically only connected calls in states where they offer local service.

One of the company's primary goals is to unshackle its equipment division, which has been hampered by its ties to the long-distance division.

"There's not much you can do in 30 seconds," said Amy Hebard, a consumer market research manager with AT&T's long-distance division.

Mr. Stinson said the company needed more sales personnel in its computer and long-distance divisions to better serve its large corporate and government customers.

It is now the first race in the long-distance division, which concludes with the British Champions Long Distance Cup in October.

"Sprint has a long history of bundling our products and services from our local, long-distance and wireless divisions," Harry Campbell, Sprint's president for mass markets, said in a statement.