Sprint to Offer Windows Phone 8.1 Upgrade - Analyst Blog

Sprint Corp. S has announced that it will offer Windows Phone 8.1 Upgrade on HTC 8XT and Samsung's ATIV S Neo. The upgrade on select phones allows Windows phone users to experience enhanced features. These add-on features will help Sprint to retain its customers and attract more Windows phone users to its network.

Sprint has a rich collection of smartphones including Android, tablets, USB modems, hotspots and routers, all of which are performing well. The company sold nearly 5.6 million smartphones in the fourth quarter representing 95% of its post-paid sales.

During the fourth quarter, the company launched Sprint Spark, which incorporates the company's 800MHz, 1.9GHz and 2.5GHz spectrum along with devices offering tri-band capability and high-definition voice. The service is available in 14 key cities with plans to deploy it in 100 additional cities over the next three years.

Under Sprint Spark, the company also offers 10 triband LTE capable devices, which include updated Samsung Galaxy 4, Samsung Galaxy MEGA, HTC One max, LG G Flex and NETGEAR Zing Mobile Hotspot. The company expects all its post-paid smartphone launches to support tri-band capabilities in the future.

Further, Sprint in collaboration with U.S. based IT and telecom infrastructure provider, A&T Systems has received a mobile services contract from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs under which it will now offer an array of wireless devices. We believe that continued smartphone penetration will improve average revenue per user on the Sprint platform as well as result in lower churn rates courtesy of the contract package that sells along with these smartphones.

Sprint has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Other Stocks

Better-ranked stocks in this sector include Shenandoah Telecommunications Co. SHEN, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp. NTT andAT&T, Inc. T. While Shenandoah has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Nippon and AT&T carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).