Mexican operator America Movil revealed its U.S. prepaid subsidiary TracFone added just over 1 million subscribers in the first quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to 15.5 million. This is an increase of 31.4 percent over first quarter 2009.
In addition, TracFone's average revenue per user increased 11.2 percent to $11 per month, and its minutes of use more than doubled to 153 minutes per month.
TracFone operates as a wholesale provider. Last July, TracFone quietly unveiled Straight Talk, a prepaid, nationwide unlimited offering using Verizon Wireless' network. The service, which is sold at participating Wal-Mart stores, charges $45 per month for unlimited voice, unlimited text messaging and unlimited data. Earlier this month, Verizon Wireless reported that 1.3 million of its prepaid net adds came from its reseller channel.
For more:
- see this cellular-news report
- see this WSJ report (sub. req.)
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