LAS VEGAS — Cricket Wireless has been busy since relaunching the brand earlier this year under the scope of new parent company AT&T Mobility. At this week’s CTIA event, the carrier announced a number of new initiatives, including a new distribution partnership, its first HTC smartphone and the addition of more data to its rate plans.
The distribution deal will see Cricket Wireless devices and service made available through more than 2,800 U.S.-based GameStop locations beginning in October. The two companies had been trialing a distribution strategy with the results obviously positive enough to warrant a broad deal.
Cricket noted that the arrangement would include the ability for GameStop customers to take advantage of the retailer’s trade-in policy on video games with that credit then used to purchase Cricket products and services.
More data
The rate plan changes see Cricket Wireless double the amount of un-throttled data on its entry-level Basic Plan from 500 megabytes to 1 gigabyte; add 500 MB to the mid-tier Smart Plan for a total of 3 GB; and double the data on its Pro Plan from 5 GB to 10 GB. The altered plans will be available beginning Sept. 13 and only available for a “limited time,” with current Cricket Wireless customers using GSM-based devices being automatically boosted with the additional data.
Cricket Wireless is in the process of migrating legacy customers from Leap Wireless’ CDMA-based network to AT&T Mobility’s GSM-based network, a process that the carrier said would take about 18 months. AT&T Mobility posted a steep decline in prepaid customers during the second quarter, which the carrier attributed to churn connected with the Cricket integration process.
HTC addition
The HTC announcement will see Cricket Wireless offer the Desire 510 for $150 beginning Sept. 19. The LTE-enabled smartphone runs Google’s Android operating system, sports a 4.7-inch screen and is powered by a 1.2 GHz, quad-core Qualcomm processor.
The device announcement was made the same week that Apple unveiled its latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models, which Cricket has yet to announce if it will carry. Cricket began offering Apple’s products under Leap in mid-2012 as part of a three-year, $900 million commitment. The carrier announced shortly after the launch that it ran into some initial issues meeting iPhone sales targets. Cricket currently offers Apple’s iPhone 5C and 5S models.
Cricket Wireless President Jennifer Van Burskirk spoke with RCR Wireless News about the latest changes.
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