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Boost Mobile plan sparks fears of price war
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Boost Mobile's decision to launch a $50 per month unlimited voice and data plan on the iDEN network has sparked fears of a coming price war in the U.S. wireless market.
Sprint Nextel's prepaid unit announced the new rate plan, which will be available Jan. 22 . The plan includes voice service, text messaging, mobile web access and Nextel push-to-talk service. The price point is below Sprint Nextel's own $99 per month Simply Everything plan as well as the $99 unlimited voice calling plans from Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility.
Shares of Leap and MetroPCS, the regional carriers that offer similar plans, fell sharply yesterday on the news. Leap's Cricket Wireless service offers a $45 per month plan for unlimited voice and text messaging, and MetroPCS offers a $50 per month plan for unlimited calling, texting and web access. However, Boost's coverage is nationwide and Leap and MetroPCS are regional operators.
The real fear is whether Boost's new plan will directly compete with national Tier-1 carriers, and force those operators' flat-rate plans to drop in price.
For more:
- see this FT article
- see this NYT post
Related Articles:
Boost Mobile debuts $50 unlimited voice/data plan
Boost Mobile, Cricket simplify rate plans
Comments
Posted by Tommy Jeffries | January 16, 2009 - 1:34pm
Yes, but Nextel’s system is by far from being comparable to Sprints CDMA network
I would not give up my everything plan to be on a IDEN network
Posted by Anonymous | January 17, 2009 - 10:56am
I hope it does cause the majors to drop their price, especially when they want business during a recession. Data and text plans are way to expensive compared to overall cost, so the price is there only because of supply/demand. Most of the bandwidth used is due to voice anyway, from my understanding.
I've been wanting an iPhone but I don't want to pay an additional $50/month for unlimited text and internet. That's more than my home internet and phone line!
Posted by Anonymous | January 18, 2009 - 1:26pm
I'm actually HOPING for a price war. That way the consumer wins. When they rolled out the $99 Unlimited plans, all the Big 4 came up with their version within a weeek of the first. This wasn't mandated by FCC pressure like previous wireless gimmes (Number porting, lowering of cancellation fees). This is pure market economics and capitalism. He with the best deals wins. I love the purity of it. But the main thing is we as consumers win. And this definitely encourages a consumer friendly environment.
Posted by Anonymous | January 20, 2009 - 7:17pm
It's about time Sprint woke up to what they had and go after the business that Metro and Cricket had all to themselves with very little pressure. Now if Motorolla wakes up there might be something creative that can happen. Why doesn't Boost have an accessory line and utilize the Boost name thru the packaging. I'm sure the dealer network would go for it.
Posted by Anonymous | January 20, 2009 - 7:18pm
It's about time Sprint woke up to what they had and go after the business that Metro and Cricket had all to themselves with very little pressure. Now if Motorolla wakes up there might be something creative that can happen. Why doesn't Boost have an accessory line and utilize the Boost name thru the packaging. I'm sure the dealer network would go for it.
Posted by Anonymous | February 11, 2009 - 10:40pm
It will most likely make Metro PCS and Cricket respond with a new line-up of handsets, such as touch screen phones. I really don't think they will drop their rate plans any lower than they already are. Besides, they offer a large national roaming area and will probably work a deal in order to drop the price on their roaming charges.
Posted by Anonymous | March 7, 2009 - 10:09am
The problem with MetroPCS and Cricket is that they do not have the bandwidth to be able to offer phones that use a lot of bandwidth like the touch screens and PDA's. This is why they do not offer those types of phones. What I would like to see is more competition in the prepay market. This is the place where Verizon, AT&T, and TMobile are falling down big time.
Posted by Treva | July 26, 2009 - 8:08am
Boost doesn't have the phones that have all the "bells and whistles" like other operators, but for a guy like me that wants a simple phone, with texting, and one that allows me to occasionally check my email on the go, you can't go wrong. I've switched from T-Mobile and I have had absolutely NO problems whatsoever. Go BOOST!!!, Ur saving me a ton of money.
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