Pages

Monday 30 May 2016

Bonus 1 GB of LTE Data for AT&T GoPhone Prepaid Customers


AT&T GoPhone prepaid customers are going to receive an extra 1GB of LTE data. It puts AT&T in a better position with its competitors, Verizon and T-Mobile.

Another competitive strategy of AT&T Mobility floated is the data allotment for select GoPhone rate plans.

Starting from May 27, GoPhone customers are going to get extra LTE data access. Customers on the $45 plan are going to get 3 GB and those on the $60 plan are going to get an extra 6 GB per month. The ability to rollover unused data for one month will remain in place. Those with the $60 plan get the privilege of access to their data allotment when traveling in Canada and Mexico. There is no change in the basic $30 per month GoPhone plan.

All the GoPhone plans include unlimited voice calling and text messaging service in the US, Canada and Mexico. Customers who sign up for an automatic payment service are going to get a $5 per month credit for $45 and $60 per month plans.

AT&T witnessed a vigorous prepaid customer growth in the first quarter with 500,000 direct net additions through its Cricket Wireless and GoPhone platforms.

On top of the $45 and $60 per month plans, GoPhone service included unlimited calls to landline phones in the Dominican Republic and 10 cents per minute rates for calls to mobile devices for a $5 per month fee during the earlier part of this year.

The recent GoPhone move seems to be an answer to the latest advancements of competitors Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile US.

Verizon Wireless, a wholly owned subsidiary of Verizon Communications made some recent advancements. Starting from May 15, smartphone-based prepaid plans will include three tiers priced at $30, $45 and $60 per month. The entry level plan will offers unlimited domestic calling, unlimited text messaging across North America and a reliance on Wi-Fi for data. For customers signing up for an Auto Pay service, the $45 per month plan offers three gigabytes of cellular data, or 2 GB without. For $60 per month, data up to 6 GB with Auto Pay, 5 GB without and unlimited calling from the U.S. to Mexico and Canada. Alterations to $45 and $60 per month plans were initially floated just for promotions, but were later made permanent. An offer providing unlimited calling from the U.S. to Mexico and Canada on the $60 plan came as a new addition to the plan.

“We’re really not competitive in that environment for a whole host of reasons,” stated Shammo. “And it’s because we have to make sure that we don’t migrate our high quality postpaid base over to a prepaid product. If you look at the competitive nature, they’re doing it with sub-brands. They’re not really doing it with their brands. And quite honestly we use the TracFone brand as our prepaid product. And TracFone has been extremely successful for us. It’s not something that we disclose any more on reseller. But it continues to increase on the high quality base of TracFone. So that’s really where we use and go after the prepaid market.” 


See Also: Order Free Cell Phone Service

T-Mobile US is also not behind in the race. A new multiline promotion was unveiled last month. It includes targeting customers porting their lines in from a rival carrier. The offer includes unlimited domestic voice calling, text messaging and six gigabytes of LTE data per line for $30 per month for up to five lines of service. In order to get 6 GB of data, customers must port their number in from another wireless carrier, otherwise they only receive 3 GB LTE data for the $30 per month price.

Wednesday 25 May 2016

AT&T Announced the Launch of Equipment Instalment Plan for Accessories, Up to $400




AT&T, a leading network carrier in the US, has recently expanded its equipment installment payment plan to cover accessories. The carrier said its wireless customers can purchase accessories such as LG Tone Infinim headsets and Bose SoundLink speakers through the plans and pay them off in monthly installments with zero down payment and zero interest.

The network said the offering is only available through itsretail stores. And, the customers can only purchase one accessory per phone number or two per account. The offering only covers accessories priced between $149 and $400. The launch is notable because it will allow AT&T to potentially sell more accessories through its retail outlets, thereby deriving more revenues from the sale of accessories.

The move is also not surprising considering how popular equipment installment plans have become for the purchase of smartphones. The plans generally allow customers to break up the cost of devices into monthly payments stretching across 12, 18 or 24 months, depending on the plan they select, thereby making it easier for customers to afford expensive gadgetry. 

Indeed, AT&T said that fully 90 percent of its postpaid smartphone sales in the first quarter used the carrier's "Next" branded equipment installment plan (EIP), or were customers who brought their own devices to the carrier. That's an impressive figure, considering AT&T only introduced EIP pricing a few years ago. Previously the carrier only sold devices under a subsidized model through two-year service contracts.

Over the past several years, wireless carriers have worked carefully to finance the cost of EIP plans, since they don't immediately receive the full payment for customers' devices. "We continue to find ample demand and great rates in the securitization market to help us manage our Next receivables," said AT&T CFO John Stephens on the carrier's first-quarter conference call.  He further added, "We have received about $1.5 billion in the first quarter, or about the same amount as last year's first quarter."

Sunday 15 May 2016

AT&T and T-Mobile Continue To Make Big Strides, Killing the Gap Between Postpaid and Prepaid



For a very long time, prepaid customers have been an afterthought for major U.S. network operators including T-Mobile, AT&T etc. Typically, the network operators believed that postpaid users generate higher ARPU and lower churn. However, as smartphone sales slowdown and the gap between postpaid and prepaid narrows, the carriers are now focusing on prepaid users.   




Analyzing the first-quarter earnings, two major US carriers, T-Mobile and AT&T, continue to make big strides. "We all naturally lavish a tremendous amount of time and attention on the postpaid market," MoffettNathanson analysts wrote in a research note analyzing the first-quarter performances of the four major U.S. carriers. "But as AT&T is quick to point out, the distinction between the two is becoming increasingly arbitrary." 

AT&T, pursuing the market through its Cricket brand reported 500,000 prepaid net additions in the US during the first quarter, and an additional 450,000 in Mexico. And, T-Mobile which pursues market through its MetroPCS offering reported 807,000 prepaid customer additions during the period. Meanwhile, Sprint lost a net 264,000 prepaid users during the most recent quarter, and Verizon lost 177,000 net prepaid users during this period. And, T-Mobile and AT&T are seeing even higher ARPUs from their dedicated prepaid brands.

T-Mobile CEO John Legere recently said “MetroPCS customers generate ARPU in the range of $38 to $39, which he described as ‘very steady, very good’ and Cricket customers generated an ARPU of $41 during the first quarter.”

"The economic rationale for being a postpaid subscriber was party the subsidized handset," the analysts wrote. "If you're going to buy (and finance) your handset anyway, you might as well do it with the cheapest available price plan. Prepaid and postpaid are now more fungible. At the same time, the price distinction between the two has narrowed, in part because, well, there's just not that much difference anymore."

As the competition is heating up in the prepaid market, it is worth noting that the biggest success stories are of dedicated prepaid brands “Cricket and MetroPCS” rather than the carrier branded offerings