Following months of pointed bards from rival T-Mobile US, AT&T Mobility is looking to take the offensive in what has become a heated battle between two of the country’s largest wireless operators.
AT&T today said it would begin offering T-Mobile US customers up to $450 per line to switch their allegiance. The savings requires T-Mobile US customers to trade-in their current phones with AT&T for a credit of up to $250 that can be used towards AT&T products or services. Those customers will also be eligible for a $200 credit per line whey they transfer their T-Mobile US phone number and select one of AT&T Mobility’s Next rate plans. Those plans require customers to pay full price for a device or activate a device compatible with AT&T Mobility’s network.
AT&T Mobility last month altered its Next rate plans allowing customers to select a no-contract option if they paid for their device in full or brought their own compatible device to the carrier. The move lowered the price point on its Next plans to $45 per month for a single smartphone line with access to unlimited calling, messaging and 300 megabytes of data. Customers can sign up additional smartphone lines to share the data bucket for $25 per month; add a “basic or messaging” device for $20 per month; or can add a tablet for $10 per month. Customers looking to start a plan with just a basic or messaging device can tap into unlimited calling, messaging and 300 Mb of data beginning at $40 per month.
Bill Ho, Principal Analyst at 556 Ventures, spoke with RCR Wireless News Editor-In-Chief Dan Meyer on the impact AT&T’s rate plan changes could have on the market and competitors.
AT&T continues to offer contact-based Next plans that charge smartphone users $70 per month for the same unlimited voice calling, messaging and 300 Mb of data, while adding more smartphones to share the data bucket ranges between $30 and $50 per month depending on the size of the data bucket. Customers signing up a basic or messaging device can begin a plan for $50 per month for unlimited voice calling, messaging and 300 Mb of data, with additional basic or messaging devices charged at $30 per month. Tablet pricing remains the same at $10 per month as AT&T does not subsidize tablets.
To further promote its Next program, AT&T also added an 18 month upgrade option that will be available for up to four smartphones per account and will spread the payments on those devices over a 26 month period in a move to lower the per-monthly costs. Customers will be able to get a new smartphone after 18 monthly payments for no down payment, no upgrade fee, no activation fee and no financing fee. The current Next program, which was launched in July, spread payments over a 24 month period and allowed customers to upgrade their device after 12 months.
AT&T had initially launched its Mobile Share plans in mid-2012, offering a bucket of data that is to be shared across multiple devices, along with unlimited voice and messaging. The plans were similar to the family data share plans introduced by Verizon Wireless, though AT&T Mobility noted that the new offerings will be merely an option for new customers, and not a requirement.
AT&T Mobility is also touting its superior LTE coverage, noting it provide service covering approximately 270 million potential customers compared with just over 200 million pops covered with LTE service by T-Mobile US.
T-Mobile US is reportedly set to unveil the next iteration of its “un-carrier” strategy at next week’s CES event, with rumors suggesting the carrier will offer some form of financial compensation for customers that switch family plans from rival carriers. T-Mobile US CEO John Legere on Jan. 1 posted a picture on his Twitter account showing a white board with a list of 2014 plans, including making “waves” at CES and maintaining pressure on AT&T.
Legere acknowledged the latest AT&T move, taking to Twitter to claim: “Hmmm … if this rumor is true, I guess we are making AT&T a bit nervous.”
Following AT&T’s failed $39 billion acquisition attempt of T-Mobile USA in late 2011 due to regulatory issues, the two rivals have developed an entertaining rivalry. (T-Mobile USA changed its name to T-Mobile US last year following its acquisition of MetroPCS.) The banter between the two has for the most part been one-sided with T-Mobile US playing the underdog role in barking at its larger rival. That wordplay ratcheted up a notch following Legere’s appointment to CEO at T-Mobile USA in late 2012, with continued ribbing through most of 2013.
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