Prepaid Wireless Tracker - September 2009 Issue
Hi,
Prepaid wireless is a growing and truly exciting industry. At
Prepaid
Wireless Guide I try to provide you with in-depth information that
isn't
readily available anywhere else. Its content is original, and
created
from first hand experience working in the prepaid wireless industry.
This monthly email provides you with a quick glance at what's in the
news so
that you can easily keep informed. I believe in brief,
to-the-point summaries/commentary
so that you can move onto other tasks in your day. Each
snippet includes
a link to the original story should you be interested in the full
details.
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Page Plus Cellular Offers
Unlimited Plan
IntoMobile
Page Plus announced the availability of its new unlimited plan for
$39.95/month, which includes voice, text, and 20MB of data. That’s a pretty
compelling offer for voice
and text centric users, and it’s on Verizon’s
nationwide network.
Sprint: Prepaid
Cell Service Profitable – Postpaid Continues to Bleed
InformationWeek
It’s interesting to read that while Sprint continues to bleed
postpaid
subscribers, these customers are not migrating to their prepaid Boost
brand. Perhaps once
disgruntled enough to leave,
they rather go to a completely different company altogether, even if
they
ultimately end up selecting prepaid.
MetroPCS, Leap Wireless:
Merger Candidates?
SmartBrief
There was a lot of dialog last year about a possible merger between
MetroPCS
and Leap Wireless, however that never materialized. I’m
happy to see this conversation be
resurrected, for it seems inevitable that they’ll need such a
partnership to
really compete in the nationwide unlimited prepaid game.
MetroPCS,
Leap Both Bitten by Competition
Wall Street Journal
Both Metro and Leap have reported slowed growth due to competitive
pressures. I think
their major challenge
lies in the latest competition, which offer unlimited nationwide plans
with
lower/no fees. Do I
smell a merger?!
Prepaid
Cell Phone
Competition Sinks MetroPCS Profits (source
article removed)
Dallas
Morning News
Metro reported lower profits due to competition.
I expect they’re currently regrouping;
don’t
expect that they’ll sit back and see their business decline!
Leap Has Wider Loss in Second
Quarter
San
Diego Union Tribune
Similar story to Metro in terms of slowed growth.
It will be interested to see what their next
move will be!
Cricket's Prepaid
Offerings Bolstered
San Diego
Union Tribune
Cricket's $45-a-month plan was beefed up with unlimited e-mail, data
backup,
and 20 minutes of roaming. It
also
expanded its $55 plan to include those services plus 200 minutes of
roaming. When
competition strikes, customers win!
Walmart's TracFone Pushes
Unlimited Prepaid Down to $45
(source article removed)
Gerson
Lehrman Group
Good discussion about whether it would make sense for Verizon to
purchase its
MVNO, TracFone, similarly to how Sprint purchased Virgin.
NET10 Ranked Highest, Says JD
Power
According to the J.D. Power and
Associates 2009 U.S. Wireless
Prepaid Customer
Satisfaction Index Study,
Prepaid carrier NET10 ranks
highest in overall customer satisfaction among non-contract wireless users.
American Airlines Continues
Its High-Flying Domestic Expansion (source
article removed)
Travel
Daily News International
American Airlines
reached a major milestone this
week with its Gogo Inflight Internet service.
The Wi-Fi service is now
available on 100 MD-80 aircraft.
Page Plus Cellular Announces
Unlimited Text Messaging
Add-On Plan
PR
Newswire (press release)
Not long after it announced its $39.95 Unlimited Talk n Text plan, Page
Plus
announces an unlimited text add-on for its other voice plans. Watch out, Page Plus is on
the move!
Qwest To Exit Wireless
Business In October
Consumer
Affairs
In case you didn’t know (I hadn’t heard of them!),
Qwest is an MVNO on the
Verizon network, which will be closing its doors this fall. More fallout of the tough
MVNO market.
Leap Applies for Stimulus
Funds as Big Carriers Pass
CNET
News
If it’s successful, Leap will use
the
funds to expand its Project Change Access program, which helps low
income
households get online.
Ready Wireless
Announces Product Launch in 2000 Additional Retail Stores
PR
Newswire (press release)
Ready Wireless mobile handsets and airtime will be available in
approximately
1,500 Casey's General Stores locations in the Midwest and 250 Duane
Reade
locations in New York.
Sprint-Virgin Mobile Deal
Gets U.S. Antitrust Nod
Reuters
The FCC has approved the $483 million purchase of Virgin Mobile USA
by Sprint,
meaning that there’s nothing stopping the deal from
proceeding!
What's New at
Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com?
- Updated Page Plus monthly plan to reflect that replenishing
with any Talk n Text plan will convert you to the newer Unlimited
plan.
- Added new MiFi
& Mobile
Hotspot pages.
Reminder:
If
you have any experience with prepaid wireless and/or prepaid broadband
plans,
please do share them by visiting the following pages and submitting
your
reviews/comments.
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love
to hear from you. Just
reply to this zine and tell me what you think!
Cheers!
