Breaking down the final Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile holiday promotions and looking towards 2016
With just a couple of weeks to go before Christmas, mobile carriers are throwing out their last-ditch promotional efforts for the always important fourth quarter. Mobile carriers Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint and T-Mobile US have all thrown out promotions over the past several weeks looking to attract new customers.
On the final 2015 Carrier Wrap show, RCR Wireless News Editor-in-Chief Dan Meyer and Managing Editor Sean Kinney, discussed the latest moves as well as offered up some insight into what these offers could mean for carrier results heading into 2016.
Over the past weekend, AT&T Mobility offered up the always popular “buy-one, get-one” deal for select smartphones, most pointedly the Apple iPhone 6s and Samsung Galaxy S6 devices. The deal does have some financial nets in that customers need to sign up for the carrier’s 30-month Next 24 device financing program as well as bring a new line of service to garner the BOGO deal.
We also spoke with Bill Ho, principal analyst at 556 Ventures, to get his perspective on the latest carrier moves as well as predictions on what to look for from mobile carriers entering 2016. Ho touched on a number of topics, including the growing influence of mobile video services; potential for Sprint to turn around operations; and what to expect from the prepaid market as AT&T Mobility’s Cricket brand continues to blossom, while Verizon Wireless’ prepaid efforts lag.
“They have been doing token efforts in terms of promotions, but unless they do something drastic I think they will continue to lose subscribers,” Ho said. “Cricket has the AT&T network, which is from all intent and purposes similar to Verizon, so from the value proposition all they need to say is that their network is equal to Verizon and that premium for the premium prepaid user goes away for Verizon.”
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter