Sprint and T-Mobile US’ MetroPCS customers can now dial Cuba at a discount
Sprint launched a calling option allowing customers to place calls to Cuba as part of a broader international rate plan, following up on a similar launch earlier this year by its prepaid brand Boost Mobile.
Customers can add the Cuba 20 Plus option to their domestic rate plans, Sprint said, which provides 20 minutes of calling to a country 90 miles from our shores for $10 per month. Additional minutes are priced at 70 cents each. As part of the plan, customers also receive discounted calling rates and text messages to 180 countries from Sprint’s network.
The carrier describes the “affordable” option as the first from a national carrier. Sprint’s Boost Mobile division launched a similar plan in April with its Cuba Monthly Connect plans that begin at $50 per month and include 15 minutes of calling and unlimited text messaging to Cuba on top of standard Boost Mobile features, including unlimited calling and messaging within the U.S. and 5 gigabytes of high-speed data services.
The Boost Mobile launch, which was initiated in the Miami market, followed the recent thaw in relationships between Cuba and the United States. President Barack Obama late last year announced that U.S. telecommunications companies will be allowed to roll out infrastructure and provide commercial services in Cuba. As part of the announcement, U.S. companies are now able to export and sell communications devices, hardware, software and other items that apply to updating Cuba’s current communications system.
“With the recent government expansion of relations with Cuba, and Miami being an important market for the Boost brand, we wanted to combine a promotion with a way to give back to Cuban-Americans and make it easier for them to call friends and family in Cuba,” said Dow Draper, president of Boost Mobile and Sprint Prepaid.
Sprint, which is majority-owned by Japanese telecom giant Softbank, has been expanding its international roaming aspirations, having recently rolled out roaming options that allow for unlimited text messaging and 2G data services for customers roaming across 22 countries.
T-Mobile US also got in on the Cuba action, with CEO John Legere taking to Twitter to announce that the World Calling plan via its MetroPCS brand now includes 20 minutes of calling to Cuba from the U.S. The plan runs $10 per month on top of the carrier’s $50 or $60 per month plans and includes a handful of international features like:
• Unlimited calling from the U.S. to landlines in more than 75 countries.
• Unlimited texting from the U.S. to “most” countries, and 200 calling minutes to mobile devices in “select” countries.
• International roaming that allows for 200 calling minutes, 200 megabytes of data access and 200 sent text messages while in “select” countries.
T-Mobile US, which is owned by German telecom giant Deutsche Telekom, launched an aggressive international roaming initiative in 2013 that allows customers free access to unlimited text messaging, data services capped at 128 kilobits per second and voice calls at 20 cents per minute.
The moves come as larger rival AT&T has increased its presence in Mexico through the recent acquisition of Iusacell and Nextel Mexico. AT&T noted it plans to offer up what it called the first-ever North American mobile service area tapping into its own U.S.-based network and Iusacell’s footprint. AT&T said the combined networks would cover more than 400 million potential customers.
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