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This announcement comes as kind of surprise, at least for Verizon. Sprint had been talking about it for a while — CEO Dan Hesse had mentioned the possibility in public — but I hadn’t seen anything about Verizon’s shift. Yes, both companies now plan to offer unlimited calling for a monthly flat rate. This puts a bit of pressure on regional prepaid providers MetroPCS and Cricket, as well as Sprint’s prepaid offering, Boost Unlimited. However, as you’ll see in a few paragraphs, the pricing isn’t really comparable at all.
Verizon has offered three different new plans. For $99.99, you get unlimited calling, including long distance and roaming, plus Mobile Web 2.0. For $119.99, it’s all that plus unlimited messaging — which is really no discount, since Verizon’s unlimited messaging plan runs $19.99 per month. And for $139.99 per month, you get V Cast Video, VZ Navigator, and mobile email.
Jack Plating, chief operating officer of Verizon Wireless, says his company isn’t abandoning the bucket — but it is targeting “high value” customers who pay at least $100 a month for wireless services.
“We are going after high-end customers,” he says.
Plating says he doesn’t expect a price war, but he also makes it clear that Verizon stands ready to answer its rivals. “Anybody can match a price; nobody can match us on the value and quality of what our network is offering.”
The company has also started to launch this unlimited plan with their unlimited data services. These plans will start at $129.99 per month — the $99.99 unlimited voice rate plus the $29.99 data rate.
Sprint’s upgrade is a bit less flexible. They’re just offering the $119.99 plan, with the same features and the same price. So what appears happened here is that Verizon mulled over Sprint’s public mulling of an unlimited calling plan, and then immediately undercut them. Yeah, it’s the same price, but Verizon is offering a bit more flexibility. So basically you can be sure no one’s going to leave them for Sprint.
[USA Today] [IntoMobile]
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