The Prepaid Press - January 2009 - (Page 13)

PREPAID TELECOM Dec. 2008 / Jan. 2009 - 13 Prepaid Wireless Roundup by Joe Pawlikowski might seem unlikely now, and it clearly might not happen. The economy throughout 2009 will dictate that. will still receive their old rate for the time being. All new customers, though, are subject to the 20 cent rate. In a time when carriers should be encouraging prepaid patronage, it appears that the big carriers are looking to drive people away. Boost Unlimited going nationwide in 2009 For some time now, Boost Mobile has offered its Boost Unlimited service, which provides unlimited calling at a flat monthly rate, in only select regions of the U.S. Further, it utilized parent company Sprint’s CDMA network, rather than Boost’s own iDEN network. That is all going to change in 2009. The company has announced that they will migrate Boost Unlimited to the iDEN Network, making it a nationwide service. This gives them a competitive advantage over Leap Wireless and MetroPCS, which are only regional networks and charge their customers for roaming. Those two companies came to an agreement on roaming privileges, but still they don’t cover the whole country. The iDEN network covers more markets, thus giving Boost an advantage in roaming costs and coverage. Their push to talk feature also remains popular. During the third quarter, Boost shed 329,000 subscribers, while parent company Sprint lost 1.1 million. This dropped their total to 3.9 million total subscribers, which is on par with prepaid competitors Cricket, MetroPCS, Virgin Mobile, and T-Mobile’s To Go service. Boost had seen heavy gains over the past year or so, but that was mainly due to the then-new Boost Unlimited. Now that they have filled out markets, the growth has hit a plateau. Boost hopes that by expanding their unlimited service, they can stimulate further growth. Prepaid could out-grow postpaid in 2009 It seems that nearly every article referencing prepaid wireless can be prefaced with the line “In these tough economic times.” It’s true. In times when money is scarce and/or uncertain, turning to a no-contract method of communication is preferable. This has been a prevalent theme in the media over the past few months, and it likely won’t slow down for a while. After all, people’s contracts are expiring all the time, and they want to hear about the alternatives to binding two-year agreements. The first word we got of prepaid outgrowing postpaid came from T-Mobile, which added more prepaid subscribers in the third quarter than postpaid subscribers. This might seem like an anomaly, but Boost Mobile believes otherwise. They’ve done some forecasting, and predict that postpaid will grow by only 4 percent in 2009, while prepaid will grow at a 14 percent rate. This represents quite the turnaround for the wireless industry. Recently, Boost Mobile and Leap Wireless said that they have seen an increase in prepaid activity. Leap commented that they saw an uptick in subscriptions in October and are “seeing such trends continue.” Boost says that they’ve seen increased interest in prepaid over the past three months, despite their losses in the third quarter. It is estimated that prepaid covers between 15 and 17 percent of subscribers. That could be a far greater ratio in 2009. It’s unlikely that prepaid sees any sudden boom. Most customers are locked into contracts and despite high costs most also aren’t willing to pay upwards of $200 to have their service terminated. So it will likely M Y CM MY CY CMY K C be a slow migration, with people moving over as their contracts expire. While itWirelesslikely, this could signal a near is not Dealer Revised.pdf 12/17/2008 majority to prepaid by sometime in 2010. It T-Mobile raises prepaid text messaging rate For the past few years, carriers have taken to raising their a la carte rates for text messaging. They were once a nickel each, a long time ago in a land far away, and they gradually crept up over the 20 cent mark. Some carriers are even charging a quarter per text message. However, most people do not pay this rate. They simply signup for a text messaging bundle. Carriers prefer this, since it is guaranteed consistent income. Now it appears we’re seeing the same trend on prepaid. While carriers like Net10 still offer text messaging for 5 cents a message, the major carriers appear to be raising the stakes. AT&T recently increased their per-message rate to 20 cents on Go Phone, and now T-Mobile has followed suit on To Go. Text messages will be 20 cents to receive and 20 cents to send. Customers who were with T-Mobile before the 5:08:55 PM change, which happened around November 18, kajeet now getting distribution from Amazon.com There’s quite a debate in the parenting world over whether kids should have cell phones. For those who want to be in constant contact with their children, kajeet provides a service for kids. Parents can customize the service, help their children budget, and keep track of them with kajeetprovided software. The company announced in November that they have gained distribution through Amazon.com. The online retailer will sell kajeet phones and prepaid plans. 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. http://www.Amazon.com http://www.Amazon.com http://www.lunexcenter.com http://www.lunexcenter.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - January 2009

The Prepaid Press - January 2009 Economic Crisis Sharpens Focus on Stored Value Cards Industry Veterans Weigh In on 2009 Prepaid Opportunities Contents From the Publisher: Ready for Change? The Prepaid Press Thanks its Editorial Advisory Board Regulatory Rundown 2008 Milestones Prepaid Wireless Providers Capitalize on Economic Downturn Prepaid Telecom in Brief APCC Services Settles With Calling Card Providers Boost Mobile Offers All-in-One Prepaid Package SonarTel Prepaid Customers Can Use Accounts in More Countries BillSoft Selected by Integra Telecom Pingo Adds PC “SoftPhone” Calling kajeet, the Cell Phone Service for Kids, Wins Award Prepaid Wireless Roundup The State of Prepaid Technology: Wholesalers & White Label Services New Millennium Releases Wireless Survey Results 5 Minutes With Paul Amick, EVP & Co-Founder, PhoenixSoft Millions Could Cut Cell Phone Bills in Half New Virgin Poll Reveals Buying Habits The Legal Line BioPay Expands Offering for Underbanked IDT to Sell European Prepaid Payment Business iPayStation Launches Network for Distributor Stored Value Solutions Appoints New VP Cellular South Offers Mobile Banking for Regions Bank Javelin Research: Processor Important in Prepaid MiCash Announces New Prepaid Debit Card Monitise and eCommLink Partner Platamovil Selects PhoenixSoft’s Cirrus Softswitch Prepaid Market Forecasts to 2011 Payments & Processing in Brief Prepaid 101: Gift Cards SCA’s PrizeSuite Enables Promotions MT&L Offers Gift Card Removal and Destruction Heartland Payment Systems Acquires Chockstone Amex and Rymax Offer Gift Cards TransCard Announces Corporate Gift Card Website Gift Cards & Promotions in Brief Our Advertisers Contact Us

The Prepaid Press - January 2009

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