Sprint (NYSE: S) is hoping to poach customers of its three larger rivals with a new promotion through its Boost Mobile business.
The operator launched three new service plans offering as much as 50 percent off the current bills of customers who switch to Boost from Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile. Each new plan includes 10 GB of high-speed data and unlimited talk and text. Two lines of the prepaid service are offered at $60 a month, three lines are $85 per month and four lines are $110 a month.
The offer requires a valid port of existing numbers from other carriers, and speeds are reduced to 2G once the high-speed data allotments are reached. The promotion runs through April 5.
Boost is also offering one of five phones free or a $50 discount on devices for every line switched from other tier-one carriers. Users must pay the first month of service and the offer can't be combined with other promotions.
Verizon's family plans start at $30 a month for 1 GB of shared and top out at $100 for 20 GB, with an additional $20 per month per line. AT&T's Mobile Share Value plans start at $20 per month for 300 MB of data plus $25 per line, and top out at $375 per month for 50 GB plus $15 per line.
The new Boost campaign is a response of sorts to a promotion T-Mobile launched in January through its own prepaid service, MetroPCS. T-Mobile offered from 22 percent to 50 percent off Sprint's Family Share Pack pricing to users of Sprint, Virgin Mobile or Boost who switched to MetroPCS.
Sprint's latest campaign once again demonstrates how competitive the U.S. mobile market has become as the growth of smartphone sales flattens. And it indicates that Sprint continues to move aggressively to add subscribers in the first quarter in the hopes of continuing the momentum it gained late last year. The struggling carrier added more than a half-million net postpaid subscriber adds in the fourth quarter thanks largely to its ambitious 50-percent off campaign, up from just 30,000 postpaid net adds during the same period in 2014.
For more:
- see this Sprint press release
Related articles:
T-Mobile's latest gambit: MetroPCS to cut 22-50% off Sprint, Boost and Virgin service pricing
Black Friday: T-Mobile gives $200 to Sprint switchers, while Verizon offers 1 GB 'gifts' for $10
T-Mobile giving postpaid subs 3 months of free unlimited data after they burn through their Data Stash accounts
Verizon offers 1 GB of free data under Thanksgiving promotion, while MetroPCS unveils BOGO smartphone offer
Sprint's 50% off promotion divides financial and industry analysts