Yahoo Finance Sprint Makes Unlimited Data Plan Attractive with Sling TV
U.S. national wireless carrier, Sprint Corp. S has reinforced presence further in the wireless industry with its decision to promote unlimited data plans. Sprint is giving customers free Sling TV service, a liner streaming service of DISH Network Corp. DISH, if the customer adds four or more lines on its Unlimited Freedom plan. The offer is currently available to new and existing Sprint customers in Atlanta and Chicago.
Subscribers get access to the Sling TV “Orange” service that includes more than 30 streaming TV channels. The customers who don’t have four lines of unlimited service get a $3 per month discount to Sling TV plans. This service will be free to customers until May 2018, when the price will be increased to $17 per month.
In Feb 2017, Sprint had upgraded unlimited data plan. New customers can buy a single line on Sprint’s unlimited plan for $50 a month, and from two to five lines for $90 a month. Any extra line will cost $40 each. These rates will remain effective till Mar 31, 2018. After that, the company will raise the prices back to normal rates, per which one line costs $60 a month, two lines cost $100 a month, and every line beyond that costs an additional $30 a month.
The unlimited data plan will also offer high-definition (HD) video streaming and 10 GB of LTE mobile-hotspot data a month for new subscribers. However, to enjoy HD video streaming on an unlimited plan, subscribers may have to pay for a separate $75-a-month.
Unlimited Data Plan War
We observe that the unlimited data plan offered by Sprint is cheaper when compared with the unlimited plans of U.S. wireless carriers such as AT&T Inc. T, T-Mobile US Inc. TMUS and Verizon communications Inc. VZ.
T-Mobile US’ unlimited plan starts at $70 per month for a single line, and two lines are available for $100 a month. Verizon offers a single line of unlimited data for $80 a month with a second line for $60 a month. AT&T's unlimited plan starts at $100 a month, but it doesn’t include monthly taxes and fees, consequently raising the final cost. Notably, Verizon and AT&T do not include those fees in their advertised rates, either, but T-Mobile US does.
Price performance of Sprint
In the last six months, the stock price of Sprint has witnessed a fabulous growth of 22.06%, outperforming the Zacks categorized U.S National Wireless industry’s gain of a mere 1.34%. However, Sprint has a debt-laden balance sheet and has been witnessing losses each year since 2007. The company has been continually making efforts to lure customers from rival carriers by offering attractive promotional plans and lucrative discounts. This has led to a high cash burn rate and heavy losses for the company. We believe these are primary reasons behind the stock currently carrying a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
8 Stocks with Huge Profit Potential
Just released: Driverless Cars: Your Roadmap to Mega-Profits Today. In this latest Special Report, Zacks’ Aggressive Growth Strategist Brian Bolan explores a full-blown technological breakthrough in the making – autonomous cars. He also spotlights 8 stocks with tremendous gain potential to feed off this phenomenon. Click to see the stocks right now >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
AT&T Inc. (T): Free Stock Analysis Report
Sprint Corporation (S): Free Stock Analysis Report
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
DISH Network Corporation (DISH): Free Stock Analysis Report
T-Mobile US, Inc. (TMUS): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
