Verizon Wireless has introduced prepaid mobile broadband plans, making it the only top tier operator to offer a prepaid mobile broadband product and giving Leap Wireless some competition.
Verizon is offering a daily, weekly and monthly pricing plan. The operator is offering the daily plan for $15 with a cap at 75 MB of usage. The weekly plan is $30 with a cap at 250 MB while the monthly plan is $50 with a 500 MB cap. Verizon will offer a prepaid package complete with a USB modem for $130 in its retail stores beginning Nov. 15 and in select national retailers beginning Nov. 20.
Leap offers unlimited usage for $40 per month, but Walter Piecyk at Pali Research believes Verizon can command the higher rate because of its broader network. Piecyk also expects to see the other top tier operators eventually enter the prepaid broadband market. Virgin Mobile already offers prepaid broadband, with its 600 MB plan costing $40 per month. Sprint Nextel is in the midst of buying the company.
"We already know that Sprint will enter the market by default assuming it can close its acquisition of Virgin Mobile and we see no reason why Sprint would pull back from this market since Dan Schulman, the current Virgin Mobile CEO, is going to lead Sprint's pre-paid business following the close of the deal," Piecyk wrote in a research note.
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