Prepaid
Wireless Tracker - March 2010 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 firsthand 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.
If you like this e-zine, please do a friend and me a big favor and "pay
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Leap
Wireless Seeks a Buyer
Wall
Street
Journal
Again talks surface of a Leap partnership/merger/acquisition. With the tremendous
competition seen in 2009,
one would presume that significant headway on a merger needs to happen
this
year in order for the company to profitably compete.
Though a 2010 merger doesn’t seem likely,
some big announcements should be expected.
PreCash
Introduces First Transaction Fee
Free Card
PR
Newswire
(press release)
With the continued credit crunch, the focus on
prepaid debit cards
is inevitable, not to mention wise.
Consumers are tired of fees, so this new fee-free product
is a breath of
fresh air, but keep in mind that it’s not for casual users,
but for
those
seeking to replace usage of a credit card, as it requires a minimum
monthly
spend of $1,000, which isn’t unreasonable whatsoever.
Also, look forward to new Federal regulations
coming up that will more tightly regulate fees on prepaid reloadable
debit cards.
Sprint's
Loss Narrows; Adds Prepaid
Users
It will be interesting to see what the Sprint organization looks like
five
years from now. Will
they be a
predominantly prepaid carrier with some niche postpaid offers? Well, maybe not in five
years, but in 10
years, such a model is entirely possible if prepaid continues to grow
while
postpaid slows and begins a rapid decline.
Page
Plus Cellular Reduces Roaming Rate on Prepaid
Services
TMCnet
Page Plus decreased their roaming rates from $0.59/min to $0.29/min. Any of the major carriers
who have been
dismissing Page Plus would be wise to take note of the aggressive
pricing
changes they’ve made over the past year.
It will be interesting to see how they evolve over 2010.
Free
Cell Phone Service for Poor Lowers Rates
WalletPop
(blog)
Once Assurance Wireless customers use up their free
200 minutes,
they can now purchase additional minutes (using Virgin Mobile topup
cards) for
$0.10/min; previously $0.20/min. Not
a bad
offer.
Kajeet
Helps Set Ground Rules for Kids’
Cell Phone Use
Understanding
that there’s a real need and value
for kids to have
cell phones, kajeet offers up a sample contract to help ensure that
kids use
their cell phone responsibly, and with appropriate parental supervision. From their site you can
download a copy of
the sample contract; thank you kajeet!
Ready
Wireless, LLC Announces
Product Launch in More Than 900 Murphy USA
Retail Locations
PR
Newswire
(press release)
Murphy retailers will feature Ready Wireless’ unlimited
calling options. It’s
great to see
additional retail presence,
for distribution is certainly king in the prepaid business. Hopefully we’ll
see their
prepaid broadband
product expand its distribution as well.
What's New at
Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com?
- Updated all plan Comparison
Charts to reflect that
Page Plus roaming
decreased from $0.59/min to $0.29/min
- Answered
Content 2.0 question:
Prepaid wireless Internet cards
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from
you. Just reply to
this zine and tell me what you think!
Cheers!
PrepaidWirelessGuy
