The Prepaid Press - June 15, 2008 - (Page 15)

PREPAID WIRELESS June 15 · 2008 - 15 Prepaid Wireless Roundup By Joe Pawlikowski Boost gets first retail store, adds calling plan Boost Mobile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sprint Nextel, opened their first retail stores in May. They’re deeming them “branded shopping experiences.” The stores will have a lounge style feeling -- almost a hangout atmosphere. The company believes that this is what will make their stores unique. The stores are located in Huntington Beach, California; Hialeah, Florida; and Houston, Texas. Boost has not announced any plans to open stores in additional markets. This helps set them apart from many other prepaid operators, which rely on online and convenience store sales. The company also began touting their $1/Day Chat Plan during May, though the service was officially rolled out in February. The plan costs one dollar per day, every day, and offers unlimited nights (9 p.m.), weekends, mobile to mobile, and text messaging. Daytime calls are 10 cents per minute. MVNO shuffle: Qwest to Verizon, Embarq to drop out Qwest, formerly an MVNO of the Sprint network, stated its discontent with its agreement with the carrier back in March. Now, they have found a new partner: Verizon Wireless. However, it ap- Cricket expands network, improves service offerings It was a month of expansion for Cricket Communications. The company, which offers flat-rate unlimited calling plans, moved into a number of new markets with their AWS spectrum, which was acquired in an auction in 2006, and has given Cricket a means to expand its network. After their initial launch of the AWS network in Oklahoma City, Cricket entered five markets in Texas: Beaumont, Brownsville, Corpus Christi, Laredo, and McAllen. This complements their existing Texas markets, which include Houston, Bryan/College Station, Temple/Kileen, Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso. Not long after the Texas launch, Cricket turned on their AWS network in Las Vegas. MetroPCS, which also offers flat-rate unlimited calling plans, had rolled out their own AWS network in Las Vegas in early April, on the eve of the CTIA Wireless convention in the same city. Cricket expects to continue rolling out their AWS spectrum throughout 2008 and 2009. MetroPCS hopes to have their markets operational by the midpoint of 2009. Boost Mobile, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sprint Nextel, opened their first retail stores in May. pears that Qwest will not continue operating as a virtual operator. Rather, they will become a Verizon reseller. The agreement will also allow the two companies to bundle services. In addition to their wireless offerings, Qwest also carries home phone and Internet services. The MVNO world lost another company in May, as Embarq decided to exit the business. They will not be dumping their existing customers at this point, though. Anyone with an Embarq account will continue as normal. It is only new sales that will cease. It is unknown how long the company plans to operate, and whether they will convert their accounts over to Sprint when they do make their final exit. Embarq has cited a lack of subscribers as their reason for ceasing operations. They have 112,000 subscribers, and consider them profitable. However, the company aimed for many more subscribers at this point, so they will cut bait. They still plan to offer their TV, phone, and Internet services. Joe Pawlikowski is a Senior Editor for Prepaid Reviews, an independent website that reviews prepaid cell phone providers and reports on the prepaid wireless industry. He can be reached at info@prepaidreviews.com THE BAR JUST GOT RAISED One rumored proposal was that SK would purchase Virgin Mobile, and the new entity would buy Helio in an all-stock transaction. With expanding Cricket coverage also came expanding calling plans. Cricket overhauled their selection of plans, even adding a $30 entrylevel tier, which includes unlimited local calling. They then added features to their more expensive plans, including unlimited mobile Web to their $45 monthly plan and 30 nationwide roaming minutes to their $50 monthly plan. Virgin, Helio in MVNO merger talks Virgin Mobile USA made a splash last October by going public. The company has since stumbled, posting less than inspiring quarterly numbers. Further complicating matters, the company doesn’t forecast much growth in the near future, citing the slowing U.S. economy. Helio, a joint venture of Earthlink and SK Telecom, also made a splash last year, as Earthlink decided to cut funding to the MVNO. This left SK Telecom as essentially the controlling entity. They invested even more into the company, which has been losing money since its inception. In May, rumors surfaced that the two companies were discussing possible merger plans. These were described as informal talks at first, with the sides simply exchanging ideas. One rumored proposal was that SK would purchase Virgin Mobile, and the new entity would buy Helio in an all-stock transaction. SK Telecom denied the rumors from the outset. Their position did not hold up well, though, as Virgin Mobile confirmed the talks just a few days later. The two continue informal talks, but nothing appears imminent. Analysts differ in their opinions of this deal. Some believe that Helio brings nothing to the table other than a ton of debt. Others feel that a Helio acquisition could give Virgin an established postpaid service to add to their traditional prepaid offering. Helio also brings with it a number of desirable devices, including their renowned Ocean. TURNKEY ELECTRONIC POS We are excited to announce the opening of our state of the art customer support center; over 50 dedicated professionals to be your back office with an unparalleled level of service. • Customer Support • Customer Set up/Training • Proactive Customer Retention • Back Office Accounting • Product Management • Terminal Management • Electronic Airtime • Integrated Long Distance • Bill Payment • Stored Value • Cross Border • Global Roaming Recipient of "2008 TSP of the Year Award" from Boost Mobile AGENTS WANTED 212.219.2220 sales@prepaypoint.com Built EXCLUSIVELY on distributor alliances

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - June 15, 2008

The Prepaid Press - June 15, 2008 Contents The Retske Report: The More Things Change… Regulatory Rundown: June 2008 5 Minutes With Harvey Caron VP/Marketing Director, Pentagon Graphics TPPExpo’08 Spotlight Handset Trafficking Dealt Blow Prepaid Wireless Roundup Virgin Mobile to Use Platform-A Sprint Reports Lower Wireless Revenues Virgin Mobile Adds Samsung to Offerings States Considering Photo ID for Prepaid Wireless Prepaid Reviews Podcast Includes TPP Editor Prepaid Wireless in Brief Managing Equipment and Capacity Upgrades Atlantax Systems and TMI Form Alliance The Legal Line Spot Rates FTC Halts Bogus Prepaid Phone Card Claims Titan Global Re-Appoints Kurt Jensen as Pres/CEO Calling Cards in Brief TX AG Files Suit Against Calling Card Company Startec Moves to PhoenixSoft Cirrus Ringplus.net Offers Free Calls Interchange Fee War Begins edo Interactive Launches Networking Card MasterCard Uses CSC Platform nFinanSe Gets $15 Million Line of Credit Travelex Cash Passport Debuts at US Retail Stores CardEx Offers Cost-Free Gift Cards Payments in Brief Altair and Blueberry Launch a Prepaid Card for Moms FrontStream Acquires Direct Technology Innovations New Etelcharge Version Goes Live Prepaid 101: POSA Retail Focus in Brief NRF Says Retailers Fighting Organized Crime Blackhawk Announces Annual Hawk Awards NRF Says Retail Sales Showed Resiliency in April TravelCenters Adopts Coinstar Pay As You Go Marriott Offers a $25 Visa Gift Card NRF Favors Law Protecting Retailers from Lawsuits Starbucks Card Members Get Free AT&T Wireless Wi-Fi Our Advertisers Classifieds Contact Us

The Prepaid Press - June 15, 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.