AT&T Mobility this week expanded its recently launched “double data” promotion to its business customers, offering up twice the amount of shared data buckets through the end of the month.
The plans were rolled out to business customers on Oct. 5, and call for original plans ranging from 60 gigabytes up to 200 GB to now include between 120 GB and 400 GB of shared data. Businesses can attach up to 50 “corporate responsibility user” devices to the 120 GB, 160 GB and 200 GB shared data buckets; or up to 100 CRUs to the 300 GB and 400 GB shared data bucket plans. Each line also receives unlimited domestic voice calling and international text messaging.
Businesses that sign up for the new plans by Oct. 31 will be able to keep those plans for as long as they want.
AT&T Mobility late last month rolled out the “double data” promotion to its consumer market for data buckets ranging from 15 GB to 50 GB. That move sparked similar moves by Sprint and Verizon Wireless.
–Sprint’s Virgin Mobile USA operations rolled out new “unlimited” rate plans targeting data users and those looking to make international calls.
The company’s new entry-level plan runs $20 per month and includes 300 anytime calling minutes, unlimited text messaging and no stipulation for cellular data, with the plan including “Wi-Fi access only.” That new plan is $5 cheaper than a plan released earlier this year that had unlimited calling to go along with the messaging and Wi-Fi-only data option.
Stepping up to $35 per month brings customers the options of selecting unlimited calling and unlimited text messaging with 250 megabytes of 3G/4G data; or 300 anytime calling minutes, unlimited text messaging and 2.5 GB of 3G/4G data.
The move to $45 per month brings unlimited calling, text messaging and 1 GB of 3G/4G data; while $55 per month triples the data bucket to 3 GB. Those two plans also include unlimited text messaging to international numbers and 100 minutes of voice calling from the U.S. landline phones in more than 70 international markets.
Customers can also add international packages beginning at $5 per month that include unlimited calls to landline phones in Mexico and all phones in Canada except to “northern territories,” and unlimited worldwide text messaging; or for $10 per month they receive 1,000 calling minutes to mobile devices in Mexico, unlimited calling to landline phones in more than 70 countries and “discounted” calling rate to more than 200 countries.
Sprint’s prepaid channels, which include Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile Sprint Prepaid and the government-subsidized Assurance Wireless, lost 542,000 customers during the carrier’s most recent quarter, allowing T-Mobile US to self-proclaim itself the nation’s leading prepaid provider.
–International telecommunications giant Vodafone reported a threefold increase in the number of points of presence available to enterprise customers across the U.S., Canada and South America, which the company said would allow enterprises to gain the “benefit of global Internet protocol virtual private network services from a single supplier.” Vodafone noted that its global MPLS-enabled network is expected to connect 212 points of presence across Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas.
The additional points of presence in the Americas are set to include 21 in North America and 12 in South America and Latin America, each set to be located “close to Vodafone’s major enterprise customer sites, high-density population and data center locations.”
Vodafone recently closed on its sale of a 45% stake in Verizon Wireless for $130 billion. The company still maintains a mobile operator presence in 17 countries, with a recent GSMA Intelligence report noting Vodafone was the world’s No. 2 operator in terms of customers with nearly 436 million subscribers.
–Mobile virtual network operator FreedomPop recently celebrated its one-year anniversary by rolling out its first branded devices.
The initial device is the Liberty “phablet,” which sports a 7-inch screen, runs Google’s Android operating system and includes Wi-Fi connectivity for $89. The company is set to roll out its Frenzy phablet, which also sports a 7-inch screen, but adds LTE connectivity for $99. FreedomPop will then introduce a more conventional LTE-equiped, Android-powered smartphone “in the coming months” set to retail for $89.
All the devices will sell without a contract and have access to the company’s free text and voice service that provide 200 voice minutes and 500 text messages. FreedomPop said customers will be able to add 500 megabytes of cellular data roaming per month for a one-time fee of $49.
FreedomPop is also planning to expand its device portfolio to include refurbished versions of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 and Note 3 devices, which it says it will offer for “almost half” of their current retail prices. The carrier, which taps into Sprint for cellular roaming services, earlier this year added support for Apple’s iPhone 5, 4S and 4 models.
Additional carrier news can be found on the RCR Wireless News “Carriers” page.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter
