According to a recent report from FierceWireless, Sprint has announced they are restoring two-year wireless service contracts to their customers in order to give its customers more choices.
As of this Friday, the Sprint Website has been updated with four options in total; leasing a handset, buying it outright, paying for it in installments or signing a 2-year deal.
Just two months ago, the company stopped offering 2-year contracts to their customers following similar moves by other carriers over the last few years. The company’s rivals at AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have all eliminated their 2-year contract offerings. But now the company has decided to revert this decision, apparently, because of users requests.
“We listened to our customers and are giving them more choices to get their new device, Sprint is the only carrier to offer the most choices to obtain a new device, lease, installment bill, two-year contract or pay full retail price,” Sprint spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein told FierceWireless.
Why changing their minds?
The decision to reinstate this kind of service is probably an attempt by Sprint to differentiate itself apart from the competition by offering what they do not. However, the nation’s wireless carriers have claimed they cut two-year contracts off because most Americans don’t appear to like them much. Other major carriers as AT&T and Verizon offered installation plans alongside two-year contracts for years, and their results showed that customers preferred installation plans.
Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said that the percentage of phone activations on installment plans increased to 67% in the fourth quarter compared with about 58% in the third quarter and about 25% in the fourth quarter of last year.
Source: Fierce Wireless