Sprint tops and tails its mobile offerings
Taking pre-orders for first WiMAX phone, but also adding new budget plans
Published: 14 May, 2010
READ MORE: US | Sprint Nextel (USA) | Handset | WiMAX
Sprint Nextel has announced a flurry of initiatives this week, focused on the high end and low end of its portfolio. It has rebranded its prepaid offerings, currently its main growth driver, and having announced four propositions earlier this week, it added a fifth, in partnership with retail giant Wal-Mart. And on the premium side, which it hopes will stem its slide towards being a low margin prepaid carrier, it will ship its first WiMAX phone on June 4.
The new brand is a pay-per-minute service called Common Cents Mobile. It is aimed at customers who want basic handsets and use them almost entirely for voice and text, not data. The plan will be available from this weekend at 700 Wal-Mart outlets in markets such as Birmingham, Alabama, Detroit, Houston and Orlando, Florida. Customers will be charged seven cents per minute or per text and can buy a $20 refill card for 30 days of service or a $30 card for 60 days.
The main gimmick for this brand is that unused parts of minutes will be rounded down not up, although customers do lose any unused credit at the end of a term. Users can also add unlimited messaging for $20 a month and there are some basic data options, at $1 per megabyte per day. The associated handsets are the LG101, priced at $19.77, the Samsung M340 at $39.77, and the Kyocera S2300 at $69.77.
Common Cents will line up against one of the most successful prepaid MVNOs, TracFone Wireless. It joins four other Sprint prepaid brands, each targeting an individual customer segment and requirement. These are Virgin Mobile, which Sprint acquired last year, Boost Mobile, Assurance Wireless and the prepaid dongle option Broadband2Go.
The upcoming Sprint flagship handset, the HTC EVO, is a far cry from these low end prepaid choices - indeed the only similarity is that the EVO will also be sold at Wal-Mart, among other outlets. The cellco is now taking pre-orders for the EVO, the first WiMAX phone in the US, and will ship it on June 4 via all its own outlets plus Wal-Mart, BestBuy and RadioShack.
The EVO will have a very similar set of specs to the hugely popular HSPA-based Desire and Verizon's upcoming Incredible, and will cost a hefty $199.99 with two-year contract. It will roam across Sprint's own network and the WiMAX system of its partner Clearwire - the dual-mode, data-heavy offering is branded Sprint 4G. Sprint WiMAX services are available in 32 US markets so far and when outside these areas, the EVO falls back to CDMA EV-DO.
Clearwire will have its own branded smartphones coming up soon, probably with Sprint 3G roaming capabilities too, as well as optimized VoIP - these are likely to include a similar HTC model and a Samsung handset.
Sprint may be rather optimistic when it says people will want the phone even outside areas of Clearwire coverage, since they could get the other HTC models for lower upfront rates from Verizon or AT&T. However, it could give some Sprint customers, tied in by contracts or loyalty, a chance of a gigahertz Android superphone, so perhaps Sprint's hopes are not entirely unfounded.
Pages: 1 | 2
More US News
More SPRINT NEXTEL (USA) News
More HANDSET News
COMMENTS
Carrier Broadband Performance: Africa & Middle East
Carriers are using mobile broadband as their weapon of choice in the fight against the commoditization of voice and falling ARPU. This...
Voice over LTE: Market Analysis and Forecasts
VoLTE offer unique advantages in lowering a carrier's voice infrastructure economics and promises to improve voice quality, device...
Satellite Phones: Will Dual Mode Help the Phoenix Rise from the Ashes?
Satellite phones have followed an arduous path since their much-hyped launch more than a decade ago. The hype was followed by an e...
