Dixons Carphone has joined forces with Sprint to help the telecoms firm open up to 500 Sprint-branded stores across the US.

The first phase will see Dixons Carphone supply its mobile phone retail expertise and proprietary knowledge to Sprint to open around 20 retail stores.

The partnership is being carried out under the retailer’s Connected World Services (CWS) banner, which is headed up by Andrew Harrison and already helps run Samsung’s stores in the UK and provides a white label version of its ‘pinpoint’ software to Apple.

Dixons Carphone reveals that if the partnership is successful the parties will progress to a second phase, which will involve CWS investing equally with Sprint to support a roll-out of up to 500 stores.

The second phase would involve Dixons Carphone investing up to $32m to obtain a 50% interest in the new venture, which will be used to fund the roll out and operation of the stores.

 Dixons Carphone deputy group chief executive and chief executive of the CWS Andrew Harrison said:  “This is a very exciting venture for us, and is a significant step in growing our CWS business in the US.

“We bring specialist knowledge and skills to this partnership and will be looking to deliver innovation and outstanding customer service under the Sprint brand.”

Dixons Carphone has high hopes for its CWS unit and will soon begin breaking out its performance separately when it reports its results.