For most of October, T-Mobile grabbed Internet headlines with rumors of new everything. More handsets, better coverage and speed, higher-end handsets. It was all part of Project Dark, their ploy to bridge the gap that separates them and Sprint, the nation’s No. 3 carrier. It’s a long way to go, with about 20 million subscribers separating them, but with Sprint’s current woes and T-Mobile’s potential makeover, it was a decent long-term strategy play. Unfortunately, it didn’t make the impact some expected. The new plans look ordinary, and it’s still unclear when they will roll out 21Mbps HSPDA. The rest of the industry must be happy, though, as T-Mobile’s move helped avoid a potential industry price war.
As you can see in the above table, the unlimited everything is $30 more expensive than the rumor. It’s actually closer to Sprint’s Simply Everything plan, which includes unlimited voice, text, and data for $99 per month. That difference gets even smaller with T-Mobile’s Even More plans, which are $10 more expensive per month and require a contract, putting them on more even footing with Sprint.
A $50 unlimited plan might have caused waves in the industry, but these typical pricing tiers aren’t going to make any other carrier, even Sprint, sweat at all. Verizon’s executive vice president and CFL John Killian put it best. “We really don’t see it breaking new ground.”
T-Mobile had a chance to do something new here, to completely break with industry norms in a bid to make itself more relevant. Instead it stuck with industry conventions. They stand to gain some subscribers thanks to the small price advantage, the new handsets, and their handset financing plan. But instead of making a gambit to become No. 3, T-Mobile has guaranteed that it will take a Sprint implosion for that to happen.
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