T-Mobile USA has decided to delay indefinitely plans to introduce new, cheaper unlimited plans, according to BTIG analyst Walter Piecyk.
Last week, the blog TMoNews reported the carrier planned to drop the price of its unlimited postpaid plan from $99.99 per month to $79.99 per month. Additionally, the blog said, T-Mobile's Even More Plus no-contract unlimited plan would go down to $69.99 per month from $79.99.
A T-Mobile spokeswoman declined to comment.
"The company continues to evaluate ways to stimulate sales in ways that will return the postpaid customer base to growth and we believe they will eventually come back to these types of rate plans," Piecyk wrote in a blog post. "In the meantime they are trying out a 1,500 minute plan with unlimited data for $80 per month. That amount of minutes is more than most people need and it protects the company from the extreme users." Piecyk said the 1,500 minute plan, which T-Mobile has been running as a promotion since the end of last year, compares favorably with those of its larger competitors.
T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm has said he wants to reinvigorate the carrier as a "challenger," and recently unveiled a turnaround strategy largely based on reducing churn, offering cheaper smartphones and promoting T-Mobile's HSPA+ network technology.
In a separate but related move, TMoNews also reported that T-Mobile will remove the usage cap on its mobile data service. Citing an internal company document, TMoNews reported that T-Mobile will no longer limit users to 5 GB per month--an action that could coincide with the launch of a T-Mobile "4G Mobile Hotspot" product. T-Mobile declined to comment on the rumor.
For more:
- see this BTIG blog post (registration req.)
- see this TMoNews post
- see this Slashgear post
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Article updated Feb. 22 to reflect the nature of T-Mobile's $80 promotional plan.