TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Sprint Corp. must pay $4 million to two operators of 900 lines that a jury found were defrauded by the long-distance carrier, a federal appeals court has ruled. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s finding that Sprint owed $3.25 million in compensatory damages and $750,000 in punitive damages to owners of Audiotext Communications Network Inc. and Connections USA Inc. for failing to comply with an agreement to provide long-distance phone services.