GTE <GTE> CITES LOSS OF SPRINT GTE Corp said the decline in its first quarter net income reflects a 121 mln dlr loss from its 50 pct share ownership of U.S. Sprint's operations. This loss is an increase from the 60 mln dlrs loss reported on operations GTE owned a year ago quarter and prior to entering a joint venture with United Telecommunications <UT> in July 1986. Under the joint venture, each company owns 50 pct of Sprint. Earlier, the company reported net income declined to 265.0 mln dlrs from 283.0 mln dlrs in the first quarter a year ago. Theodore Brophy, chairman of GTE said, "we expect US Sprint's losses to diminish later this year as customer traffic migrates to the new fiber-optic network for long distance telecommunications. The reason for the higher losses reflect lower prices as well as higher operating costs related, in part, to the fraudalent use of the network. Operating income of its telephone operations, which account for 91 pct of the total, rose eight pct to 736.0 mln dlrs. Revenues from telephone operations rose eight pct to 2.9 billion dlrs.