Sprint is kicking off a new handset recycling program that encourages customers to use their old Sprint phone on a compatible MVNO. The new program, Bring Your Own Sprint Device, is designed to put those old phones to good use instead of just tossing them into the landfill.
Customers with unused Sprint phones can bring them to one of Sprint’s MVNO carriers like Virgin Mobile and Boost Mobile and activate it for use on their network. Sprint hasn’t provided a list of which Sprint devices are eligible for this initiative, but we expect it would include both feature phones and smartphones. You can read more about the program in the press release below.
[Via Sprint]
Sprint Gives MVNOs an Alternative to Phone Subsidies Through “Bring Your Own Sprint Device” Program
Latest program from Emerging Solutions & Global Wholesale enables MVNO customers to activate idle phones on the Sprint network, reducing the number of inactive phones in the market, diverting phones from landfills
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), March 05, 2013 – As the opportunity to reuse or recycle idle mobile devices in the United States continues to grow, Sprint (NYSE:S) Emerging Solutions & Global Wholesale today introduced the Bring Your Own Sprint Device (BYOSD) program.
BYOSD is intended to help Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) address the growing number of inactive devices in the marketplace and offset the phone subsidy burden through the reactivation of used and inactive Sprint-branded devices on qualified MVNO price plans.
In the United States alone, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates 135 million cell phones are discarded each year. Reusing or recycling these phones could save enough energy to power more than 24,000 homes for a year. With BYOSD, MVNO customers simply bring a deactivated Sprint device to their MVNO, who must determine the device’s eligibility for the BYOSD program. Upon meeting those specifications, the device is then activated by the MVNO.
“BYOSD is another way that Sprint enables MVNOs to offer flexible, financially sensible and environmentally minded solutions to their end users,” said Matt Carter, president, Emerging Solutions & Global Wholesale at Sprint. “This program not only gives our MVNO customers a chance to make a positive impact on our environment, but also allows them the chance to do so in a way that benefits their bottom line.”
“A program like this can help to remove the subsidy burden off of burgeoning MVNOs, helping them to thrive in the competitive wireless landscape,” said Steve Hilton, principal analyst with Analysys Mason.
Sprint ranks No. 3 on Newsweek’s 2012 Green Rankings of the nation’s 500 greenest companies and is the only telecommunications company in the top 25.