VMU to cut postpaid service, ups mobile data ante

Sprint Nextel Corp.’s bevy of prepaid offerings is gaining some clarity as the carrier is looking to phase out a legacy postpaid service and increase the appeal of its prepaid data plans.
Sprint Nextel said it has started to notify customers of its Helio/Virgin Mobile postpaid offering that the carrier will cease the offering on May 25 and that customers on those plans will have the opportunity to migrate to either a postpaid Sprint Nextel plan or leave the carrier without being charged a termination fee. A Sprint Nextel spokeswoman said current Helio/Virgin Mobile postpaid customers can continue to use their service until midnight on May 25.
In an attempt to keep those customers, Sprint Nextel said it was extending an additional $50 credit on top of regular rebates to the price of a new device with a two-year agreement. Those customers can also take their number to a new operator without having to worry about the ETF.
Virgin Mobile USA acquired Helio in mid-2008 and provided Virgin Mobile USA with approximately 170,000 high-average revenue per user customers to compliment Virgin Mobile USA’s relatively low-ARPU prepaid customer base. Sprint Nextel would not comment on how many of those Helio contract customers remained. Both operators were operating their services on Sprint Nextel’s CDMA network.
Sprint Nextel, which was an initial investor in Virgin Mobile USA, acquired the MVNO last year and this year began folding the operations into its Boost Mobile prepaid offering. Sprint Nextel’s prepaid efforts have been one of the strong customer addition segments of the carrier’s operations over the past several years.
More mobile broadband
While Virgin Mobile USA is winding down one of its operations, the company also announced the expansion of its Broadband2Go data plans. The company said it has increased the cap on its $60 service from 1 gigabyte of data transmission to 5 GB, matching what parent company Sprint Nextel charges and offers for its contract offerings. Virgin Mobile USA’s plans continue as a no-contract, prepaid service.
The 1 GB offering remains, but has had its price cut to $40. Virgin Mobile USA continues to offer a $20 plan that includes 300 megabytes of data transmission and a $10 plan that includes 100 MB of throughput. The $10 plan is good for 10 days, while the others are good for 30 days.
Virgin Mobile USA noted that a recent survey of its customers showed that 30% of customers used their offering more than four times per week and that 16% of customers said they purchased the service for “at-home Internet connection rather than interim out-of-home use.”
Verizon Wireless recently unveiled a prepaid data package that provided 500 MB of data transmission per month for $50. Leap Wireless International Inc. offers a no-contract wireless data card solution through its Cricket subsidiary at $40 per month for 5 GB of data throughput or a grab and go package that provides 10 GB for $50 per month.