T-Mobile US announces no-cost North America roaming plan; counters AT&T’s Mexico venture
T-Mobile US continues to update its “Un-carrier” promotions, with the latest move expanding services across North America.
T-Mobile US announced that beginning July 15, postpaid and prepaid customers will be able to place calls, send text messages and access data services in Canada and Mexico by tapping into their rate plans at no extra cost. The data access includes LTE speeds where available, and customers can also place calls from the U.S. to all numbers in Canada and Mexico for no extra cost on qualifying plans. Those not on qualifying plans are charged $10 per month to access the latest roaming option.
In addition to working through a customer’s rate plan, the new offer also allows users to access T-Mobile US’ streaming-music offering, with plans to integrate its Data Stash program.
The latest move, dubbed “Mobile without Borders,” taps into roaming agreements with what T-Mobile US said were the No. 1 and No. 2 carriers in each country, with T-Mobile US CEO John Legere during a conference call mentioning Telcel and Movistar in Mexico; and Rogers, Bell Canada and Wind Mobile in Canada. New customers will automatically be enrolled in the new program, while current customers will need to “opt-in” to the program either online, in a store or by phone.
The offering tangentially builds on T-Mobile US’ Un-carrier 3.0 offer from late 2013, though the carrier prefers to say it’s just an addition to its initial Simple Choice offerings that kicked off its Un-carrier initiatives. The 3.0 offer provides postpaid customers unlimited text messaging, access to low-speed data and calling at 20 cents per minute across more than 120 countries for no additional charge. That plan also allowed customers to tag on higher-speed data access buckets at 3G or LTE speeds beginning at $15.
The new offering is currently targeted to North America, so the Un-carrier 3.0 program continues to live on. The new program is also similar to the legacy offering in that it’s not meant for extended roaming in a foreign country, with T-Mobile US noting a majority of usage during a 3-month period should be on its home network.
Legere was quick to compare T-Mobile US’ latest move with that of larger rival AT&T, which has recently spent $4.4 billion to acquire a pair of mobile operators in Mexico and promised another $3 billion in investments as part of a plan to offer expanded services encompassing the U.S. and its southern neighbor. Legere explained that AT&T’s moves helped bring Mexico’s largest operators to the table as they were looking for ways to combat AT&T’s investment in the country.
Financially, T-Mobile US explained it was comfortable with the roaming metrics of the deal.
T-Mobile US last month updated its JUMP device-financing program as part of a broader move to update its previous Un-carrier initiatives.
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