T-Mobile USA updates prepaid offerings

T-Mobile USA Inc. poured further fuel on the prepaid fire today with the refining of its traditional prepaid plans to now include unlimited calling and texting options. The move looks to be essential for the nation’s No. 4 carrier, which recently said it lost 77,000 customers during the first quarter that included a loss of 118,000 postpaid customers that an unusually poor showing of only 41,000 prepaid net additions could not counter.
The new plans provide for unlimited calling and messaging for $50 per month, or unlimited messaging for $15 per month and voice calls charged at 10 cents per minute. The unlimited voice and messaging offering lines up with similar plans from rivals Boost Mobile, Straight Talk, MetroPCS Communications Inc. and Leap Wireless International Inc.’s Cricket service, though those carriers typically include unlimited data services and other features with their offerings.
The plans also slot in below T-Mobile USA’s Even More offerings, which provide for unlimited talk and text messaging for $60 per month without a contract, but a wider selection of devices at unsubsidized prices or $70 per month for the same devices at a subsidized price.
The selection of devices for the prepaid service is limited to just four basic models ranging between $20 and $40, none of which include a QWERTY keyboard. The carrier does offer a prepaid SIM card for $7 that can used in any T-Mobile USA or unlocked device.
“T-Mobile needed to make their prepaid portfolio more competitive in light of the multiple competitive prepaid unlimited offerings out there,” noted William Ho, VP of Current Analysis Inc.’s consumer and small business group. “It is a tough road they’re on to trying to capture a higher-ARPU unlimited calling customer while preserving margin and not cannibalizing the postpaid base.”
T-Mobile USA also continues to offer its traditional, pay-as-you-go service that begin at $10 for 30 minutes ranging up to $100 for 1,000 minutes. Text messaging on those plans is charged at 5 cents to receive and 10 cents to send. The plan falls short of the value being offered by Sprint Nextel’s recently unveiled Common Cents service that provides pay-as-you-go voice service at 7 cents per minute, with those minutes rounded down to the nearest minute, and text messages charged at 7 cents per message sent or received.