AT&T Inc. T recently inked an agreement with Airstream, a leading brand of travel trailers in the United States, to offer 4G LTE services to the latter’s customers. The strategic deal will provide seamless connectivity to Airstream customers and represents the industry’s first such outreach to this unique RV (recreational vehicle) sector.

AT&T will be the exclusive wireless provider and its services can be availed with the launch of 2019 model Airstream Classic travel trailers. Customers can either choose from a monthly plan of $25 for 5GB of data or pay $360 for unlimited data for one year.

The service will allow customers to stay connected with the rest of the world through Airstream's powerful Wi-Fi hotspot. At the same time, subscribers can leverage the IoT (Internet of Things) feature and remotely monitor and control temperature, lighting and other connected devices through the Smart Control mobile app. In addition, customers could benefit from the GPS locator to safely navigate through any outdoor activities or fun-filled adventures and return back to their Airstream.

AT&T is currently gearing up to launch 5G services in a dozen cities in 2018 and in early 2019. These include Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Raleigh, Waco, Houston, Jacksonville, Louisville, New Orleans and San Antonio. AT&T’s 5G deployment will entail utilization of millimeter wave spectrum to deploy 5G in pockets of dense population. In parts of urban, suburban and rural areas, the company aims to deploy 5G on its mid and low-band spectrum holdings.

Over the past five years, AT&T invested around $145 billion in wireless and wireline networks, including capital investments and acquisition of wireless spectrum and operations. Currently, the company’s wireless network covers more than 99% of Americans. Its fiber network is one of the nation’s largest and connects more IoT devices compared to any other provider in North America.

In the past year, shares of AT&T have lost 12.3% compared with 2.1% decline for the industry. It remains to be seen whether the national carrier’s service expansion strategy can help it improve profitability in the course of time.

AT&T currently has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). Some other stocks in the industry worth considering are United States Cellular Corporation USM, Telenav, Inc. TNAV and Windstream Holdings, Inc. WIN. While United States Cellular sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Telenav and Windstream carry a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.    
       
United States Cellular has long-term earnings growth expectation of 1%. It surpassed earnings estimates thrice in the trailing four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 303.6%.

Telenav surpassed earnings estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 3.7%.        

Windstream surpassed earnings estimates twice in the trailing four quarters, with an average positive surprise of 23.5%.

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