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Sprint (NYSE: S) wholesale partner nTelos Wireless plans to launch an equipment installment plan later this summer similar to offerings from larger carriers, but the financial and competitive impact of the launch is still not clear.
On nTelos's first-quarter earnings conference call earlier this month, CEO James Hyde revealed that the carrier is finalizing its device installment plan options, and the company is "excited about offering what we feel will be a differentiated program customers will want to take advantage of."
Tier 1 carriers have increasingly embraced such plans, shifting revenue from service revenue to equipment revenue by removing the up-front cost they pay to subsidize smartphones. AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T) noted in its first-quarter earnings that the adoption rate of its Next handset upgrade program was 35 percent in the period, when taking out about 1.1 million accelerated smartphone upgrades that occurred in the quarter. Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) said the adoption rate of its Edge upgrade program in the first quarter was less than 15 percent but the...