MetroPCS simplifies LTE pricing plans, ditches $30 and $55 offerings

MetroPCS (NYSE:PCS) will discontinue a number of LTE pricing options, and modify some existing plans, in an effort to simplify its service pricing. Specifically, the carrier tomorrow will cancel its $30 and $55 LTE pricing options, and will instead offer LTE services at the $40, $50 and $60 per month price points.

MetroPCS in August introduced unlimited talk, text and LTE data for $55, and at the time said the offering was a promotional price intended to help drive customers to its LTE offerings. MetroPCS then in October introduced its $30 LTE rate plan, which offered unlimited voice, texting and CDMA data as well as 250 MB of LTE data.

Starting tomorrow, MetroPCS plans to eliminate those two offerings and provide LTE service at three no-contract tiers:

  • $60 per month for unlimited talking, texting and LTE data
  • $50 per month for unlimited CDMA data and 2.5 GB of LTE data
  • And $40 per month for unlimited CDMA data and 500 MB of LTE data

MetroPCS' action is likely a response to the dramatic success of its LTE sales efforts. The company earlier this week reported it counted 2.2 million 4G LTE subscribers at the end of the fourth quarter, or roughly 25 percent of its subscriber base, which it said was an increase of 117 percent from the third quarter of 2012. The carrier has been working to move customers onto its LTE network, which is much more spectrally efficient and offers customers much faster data speeds.

To encourage customers to move onto LTE, MetroPCS has been working diligently to lower the cost of its LTE phones. The prepaid carrier offers a number of LTE smartphones below $200, including the LG Motion and ZTE Avid for $149.

This is not the first time MetroPCS has tweaked its LTE service pricing. In April the carrier increased the cost of its unlimited talk, text and data plan from $60 to $70 per month.

For more:
- see this MetroPCS site

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