GTE Corp. and United Telecommunications attributed lower...

GTE Corp. and United Telecommunications attributed lower profits to increased losses and fraud by phone users at their US Sprint Communications subsidiary. Sprint is the nation’s third-largest long-distance company. GTE, based in Stamford, Conn., said net income for the first quarter of 1987 dipped 6% from a year earlier. United Telecommunications, based in Kansas City, Mo., said its profit slid 71% from the like 1986 period. The two phone companies, which are equal owners of US Sprint, each had a pretax loss of $121 million from the long-distance company in the first quarter.