Sprint May Surprise All By Undercutting Carriers In The Unlimited Calling Plan
One after another, three of the major U.S. carriers this week rolled out flat-rate calling plans. AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) unveiled $99.99/month unlimited calling plans, and T-Mobile USA took it a step further by including text and picture messaging.
Now we know why. The beleaguered No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel is expected to offer a flat-rate calling plan at up to a 40 percent discount to its rivals, according to Reuters today. Analysts are saying that it could be considerably less expensive, at rates as low as $60 a month.
At that price, it would be considerably lower than even the trials Sprint is currently conducting. It has been testing plans in four markets with unlimited voice, text and Web access for $119.99 and $149.99. But Sprint’s new CEO Dan Hesse is expected to do something extreme to stop the massive customer departures. In a USA Today story, Hesse said he was considering flat-rate pricing for unlimited voice calls with the goal of driving sales through the roof. He said: “If we can’t be different, we can’t win.”
Since almost the beginning, the U.S. wireless industry has relied on big buckets of minutes at reasonable prices to drive sales and win customers over from competitors. It will be interesting to see if an unlimited pricing plan war will result in a lot of defections when most people today may feel that they already have more minutes than they know what to do with.
In the Reuters (NSDQ: RTRSY) story, Bear Stearns analyst Phil Cusick said if “Sprint prices closer to $60 for unlimited voice, that would create much more marketing stir and be a real differentiator, but would risk an eventual response from competitors,” he said.
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Comments (1)
Mar 18, 2008 10:04 PM
Sprint in my area—brooklyn,n y-is by far the best provider-and i’ve used them all.But-and this is tjhe biggest BUT of all-their customer service and billing practices are horrendous—they load minutes(apractice that makes me the red flag to their service reps who know my number on their screens)—and the customer service reps are beyond help. Unfortunately the service works in the catskills—where t-mobile fails-in basements—again where t-mobile fails—and service—calls NOT lost-is the reason to have a RELIABLE PHONE!-It does no good to have good customer relations if you -drop-call upon call and lose “bars” when you need them—a real catch-22.
So i am looking into powerlink this week to see what their service is like-and helio as well—they use sprint cells but are serviced by their own corporate struicture-i may have a way out of the catch-22-wish me luck—as i wish it to all the people lost in the cellphone asylum——hooooah!