@CTIA: Leap increases no-contract pricing pressure

LAS VEGAS – The prepaid pricing wars took another step down today as Leap Wireless International Inc.’s Cricket subsidiary unveiled new plans that provide for nearly nationwide voice calling for $30 per month. The new plans update the carrier’s previous offering by providing for home calling in the top 125 markets across the 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico thanks to new roaming agreements with unannounced partners.
Cricket’s previous offering was limited to calls placed from markets that were either covered by the carrier’s native network or that covered through a roaming agreement with fellow unlimited calling provider MetroPCS Communications Inc.
Customers can add unlimited text messaging and other features at $10 increments culminating with its $60 Premium Plan that includes virtually all of Cricket’s offerings, including 100 roaming minutes for calls made from outside the expanded coverage area. Leap said those calls would regularly be charged at 25 cents per minute.
The new plans undercut similar nationwide offerings from rivals, including Sprint Nextel Corp.’s Boost Mobile division’s $50 per month plan that includes unlimited voice, messaging and data services, as well as that from Tracfone Wireless Inc.’s Straight Talk service that provides for unlimited voice, messaging and limited data services for $45 per month. Cricket throws in nationwide text messaing, unlimited picture messaging from its home network and unlimited Web use for $40 per month.
Analysts were initially hesitant to predict unlimited voice calling plans would dip below the $50 barrier first introduced by Boost Mobile in early 2009, but have since witnessed that move matched by nationwide operators and further slashed by Leap’s latest offering.