Fred Haumesser Ready Mobile Interview - Hear what the Co-Founder & Executive Vice President has to say!

Interview Date:  August 6, 2009

1.   [PWG] What’s Ready Mobile’s mission?

[Haumesser] Ready Mobile PCS wants to take the hassle out of wireless service.  Fred Haumesser, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Ready Mobile, wants wireless to be easy.  “Look, we all know that for many people, standard wireless plans are just too expensive, too complicated and too, well, out of reach,” he says.  “Our goal has always been to make wireless easy and affordable.”

2.    [PWG] What types customers are you targeting?

[Haumesser] Haumesser, along with partner, co-founder and Ready Mobile CEO Dennis Henderson, built Ready Mobile to serve under banked and under funded customers.  That strategy is evident with Ready’s new unlimited calling plan. “The barrier to entry is affordable; the core offer is $39.99, and the handset is actually free after mail-in airtime rebate,” says Haumesser, “and the unlimited calling with text allotment is competitive with almost anything we’re seeing in the market.”

3.  [PWG] How does Ready Mobile’s plan compare to others currently on the market? 

[Haumesser] Ready Mobile isn’t the first prepaid carrier to offer an unlimited calling plan but they may have done more than any other carrier to identify and meet the needs of a specific market.  Haumesser explains:  “First and foremost, we’re affordable.  Both the phones and the PIN denominations allow for the consumer to buy into equipment and rate plans that they normally can’t qualify for due to price point.”  Haumesser says many unlimited plans are just out of reach for many people.  “With Ready Mobile, they can get unlimited usage without having to come up with $50 at one time.”  

Haumesser says that Ready Mobile customers have flexibility that is often unavailable with other carriers.   “If a customer doesn’t plan to experience heavy usage for a couple weeks they can choose to opt into a Free N/W plan for a period of time to get a longer expiration periods and get more value for their money.”

4.  [PWG] How does Trumpet Mobile fit into Ready Mobile’s portfolio?

[Haumesser] Affordability and flexibility are important to Ready Mobile customers, and Haumesser is not limiting the approach to the domestic market.  The company also carries Trumpet Mobile which is designed for heavy international callers. “We acquired Trumpet Mobile in January of this year and we’re in the middle of re-launching that offer with free international connection to land lines in Mexico, Puerto Rico and 34 other countries,” said Haumesser.   He explains that international wireless is still an open field of play.  “There’s currently a gap in prepaid wireless for international rate plans and we’re excited about the opportunity.”

5.  [PWG] What are your thoughts on the prepaid broadband market?

[Haumesser] Ready Mobile does not limit our offering to voice services.  The company also offers a prepaid wireless broadband service.  “People buying prepaid broadband generally come from a demographic segment accustomed to post-paid calling plans for both phone and broadband,” Haumesser explained.   “This will definitely change in time, and prepaid broadband services will be another offer that can stand on its own and perform well.”

Haumesser explains that process and customer service are fundamental to an effective wireless broadband offering.  “As is the case with our handset programs we’ve established proprietary processes that provision and test the equipment before it is packaged,” he said.  “We’ve also developed and extensively tested our own connection manager that insures a quality customer experience in both ease of use and performance.  Finally, we have dedicated customer service to support the more technical issues that come along with offering such a product.”

6.  [PWG] Is there anything else you’d like to call out about Ready Mobile?

[Haumesser] Ready Mobile isn’t just dedicated to creating a great experience for end-users, pleasing retailers is also a key component of the Ready Mobile process.  “We’ve designed a program that is appealing to the retailers that distribute our handsets and air time,” Haumesser explains.   “There are as many features in our program tailored for the non-traditional retailer as there are for the end users.”  By extensively quality testing devices before shipping, Ready Mobile reduces returned product to retailers reducing their headaches.

Stability and reliability are important parts of the relationship Ready Mobile shares with its retail partners.  “We’re a fiscally responsible company,” said Haumesser, “Our business plan was designed to withstand the churn rates associated with the sales channels in which we choose to participate.  That said, we’re adequately capitalized and positioned for growth.”

In an industry with its share of failures, Ready Mobile is clearly a success.  Haumesser sees the success of the prepaid industry during the current recession continuing long after the economy improves.  “We believe it will continue to thrive.  The offerings are creating a lot of awareness at the consumer level and people are learning that prepaid isn’t tied to a $.25 per minute rate plan anymore,” he argues.  “It sure seems to work everywhere else.”

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