Aircel becomes the fourth telco to slash 3G tariffs as the industry looks towards raising data usage to shore up revenues.
The fifth largest telecom company by subscribers said its '3G Aircel Pocket Internet Smart' data cards aimed at the youth, allowed high-speed internet access at prices that were same as 2G.
Making unlimited 3G data usage its USP, Aircel introduced plans beginning from 8 a day to 999 a month. The lowest costing plan allows internet usage at 3.6 Mbps speed up to 50 MB of data download while the plan on the higher side gives speeds up to 7.2 Mbps for downloading 10 GB of data. After reaching the limits, speed for every plan reduces to 128 Kbps.
The telco said its plans were available in all 13 circles where it has 3G operations and could seamlessly work on 2G and 3G devices. "The plan is an Industry first with an aim to offer possibilities through the power of Internet at an extremely affordable price and thus empower the youth," said Aircel's marketing head Anupam Vasudev.
Over the last month, leading mobile phone companies slashed 3G tariff plans. Bharti Airtel set the trend by cutting tariff plans for prepaid subscribers to 10 a day giving internet access for 30 minutes. High-speed 3G internet service can be bought starting from 45 for 150 MB for seven days to 1,500 for 10 GB for of 30 days.
Soon after, Idea cut 3G tariffs by up to 70% while the Indian arm of British telco Vodafone Plc pruned monthly rentals on its 3G promotional packs by a peak 33%.
Sprint's Virgin Mobile USA to offer iPhone - Marketwatch
By Thomas Gryta
Sprint Nextel Corp. /quotes/zigman/240259/quotes/nls/s S +0.20% is set to become the second U.S. mobile phone service to offer the Apple Inc. /quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL -0.67% iPhone without a wireless contract.
The Overland Park, Kan., carrier will announce this week it will offer the popular smartphone on its Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go brand starting as soon as July 1, according to people familiar with the company's plans. Sprint follows Leap Wireless International Inc. /quotes/zigman/94240/quotes/nls/leap LEAP +0.39% in selling the device with prepaid service.
By offering the iPhone, Sprint may help satisfy its commitment to Apple to buy $15.5 billion of the phones over four years, an aggressive bet as more carriers are getting access to the once-exclusive device. Sprint's prepaid service, which also includes the Boost Mobile brand, has been its lone area of growth as contract customers have fled.
Sprint added 489,000 prepaying customers in the first quarter, though it lost 192,000 contract customers, which are considered more profitable. It began offering the iPhone on its Sprint brand in October, and has sold 3.3 million of the device over the past two quarters.
Pricing for the Virgin Mobile iPhone couldn't be learned, and it wasn't clear whether Boost would ultimately carry the device.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. The availability of the prepaid iPhone allows Sprint to sell the device to a new demographic. Aside from having no contract, there are no also credit checks for customers.
The addition of the iPhone to Virgin Mobile also leaves Deutsche Telekom AG's /quotes/zigman/152195/quotes/nls/dte DTE +0.83% T-Mobile USA at a greater disadvantage. It is the last of the largest carriers without the device, which Chief Executive Philipp Humm has said is a major reason it lost 1.7 million contract customers last year.
Notably, the prepaid iPhone from Virgin would be more widely available than Leap's Cricket brand because Cricket is only in smaller markets. Although Cricket users can use their iPhone anywhere, it can only be purchased if they live within its network that covers about 60 million people, or 20% of the U.S. population.
Sprint's network, used by Virgin, claims to cover about 278 million people or almost the entire country.
Leap will begin selling the phone on June 22 and charge $499.99 for a 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S and $399.99 for the older 8-gigabyte iPhone 4. Those prices are about $300 more than those sold by the major carriers, but $150 less than what Apple charges for an unlocked 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S.
Sprint already offers various models of the iPhone at the same prices as the other major carriers when customers sign a two-year contract. That includes an 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 at $99.99 and a 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S for $199.99.
In order to carry the phone, Leap struck a three-year deal with Apple under which it agreed to spend $900 million in volume purchases.
Virgin Mobile USA has prepaid plans that begin at $35 a month and offer unlimited data, although speeds will be throttled after the user consumes 2.5 gigabytes a month. It is unclear if the iPhone will be allowed to work on the current plans.
In comparison, Leap is charging $55 for unlimited talk, text and data, which a similar limit on full-speed data, while plans with other wireless carriers are frequently $100 or more, and users are locked into two-year contracts.
Sprint says its Virgin brand is directed toward "subscribers who are device and data-oriented." Sprint acquired Virgin Mobile USA in 2009 for about $480 million.
Sprint's Virgin Mobile USA to Begin Offering iPhone -Sources - NASDAQ
By Thomas Gryta and Greg Bensinger
Sprint Nextel Corp. (S) is set to become the second U.S. mobile phone service to offer the Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone without a wireless contract.
The Overland Park, Kan., carrier will announce this week it will offer the popular smartphone on its Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go brand starting as soon as July 1, according to people familiar with the company's plans. Sprint follows Leap Wireless International Inc. (LEAP) in selling the device with prepaid service.
By offering the iPhone, Sprint may help satisfy its commitment to Apple to buy $15.5 billion of the phones over four years, an aggressive bet as more carriers are getting access to the once-exclusive device. Sprint's prepaid service, which also includes the Boost Mobile brand, has been its lone area of growth as contract customers have fled.
Sprint added 489,000 prepaying customers in the first quarter, though it lost 192,000 contract customers, which are considered more profitable. It began offering the iPhone on its Sprint brand in October, and has sold 3.3 million of the device over the past two quarters.
Pricing for the Virgin Mobile iPhone couldn't be learned, and it wasn't clear whether Boost would ultimately carry the device.
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment. The availability of the prepaid iPhone allows Sprint to sell the device to a new demographic. Aside from having no contract, there are no also credit checks for customers.
The addition of the iPhone to Virgin Mobile also leaves Deutsche Telekom AG's (DTE) T-Mobile USA at a greater disadvantage. It is the last of the largest carriers without the device, which Chief Executive Philipp Humm has said is a major reason it lost 1.7 million contract customers last year.
Notably, the prepaid iPhone from Virgin would be more widely available than Leap's Cricket brand because Cricket is only in smaller markets. Although Cricket users can use their iPhone anywhere, it can only be purchased if they live within its network that covers about 60 million people, or 20% of the U.S. population.
Sprint's network, used by Virgin, claims to cover about 278 million people or almost the entire country.
Leap will begin selling the phone on June 22 and charge $499.99 for a 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S and $399.99 for the older 8-gigabyte iPhone 4. Those prices are about $300 more than those sold by the major carriers, but $150 less than what Apple charges for an unlocked 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S.
Sprint already offers various models of the iPhone at the same prices as the other major carriers when customers sign a two-year contract. That includes an 8-gigabyte iPhone 4 at $99.99 and a 16-gigabyte iPhone 4S for $199.99.
In order to carry the phone, Leap struck a three-year deal with Apple under which it agreed to spend $900 million in volume purchases.
Virgin Mobile USA has prepaid plans that begin at $35 a month and offer unlimited data, although speeds will be throttled after the user consumes 2.5 gigabytes a month. It is unclear if the iPhone will be allowed to work on the current plans.
In comparison, Leap is charging $55 for unlimited talk, text and data, which a similar limit on full-speed data, while plans with other wireless carriers are frequently $100 or more, and users are locked into two-year contracts.
Sprint says its Virgin brand is directed toward "subscribers who are device and data-oriented." Sprint acquired Virgin Mobile USA in 2009 for about $480 million.
Write to Thomas Gryta at thomas.gryta@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 06-05-121241ET Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Ericsson: 3G, 4G networks to blanket most of the world by 2017 - ZDNet
Approximately 85 percent of the world’s population will be covered with high-speed mobile internet by 2017, according to Ericsson’s second Traffic and Market Report published on Tuesday.
That estimate specifically pertains to 3G coverage as Ericsson estimates there will be close to nine billion mobile subscriptions in the next five years, up from six billion at the end of 2011. Ericsson also attributes this increase to a rise in M2M device support and subscriptions as well.
Going hand-in-hand with those increases, Ericsson researchers also point out that just about everything is going mobile these days thanks both to the evolution of the cloud as well as consumer demand for having Internet access just about anywhere at anytime. Thus, that’s putting pressure on the tech world to meet those demands as rapidly as possible.
Douglas Gilstrap, senior vice president and head of Ericsson’s Strategy unit, added in the report that “people see access to the internet as a prerequisite for any device,” whether it be a smartphone or a machine-to-machine platform.
This mindset results in growing demand for mobile broadband and increased data traffic. Operators recognize this business opportunity and are aiming to facilitate this growth and provide good user experience with fast data speeds through high capacity networks. Today, around 75% of the HSPA networks worldwide have been upgraded to a peak speed of 7.2 Mbps or above and around 40% has been upgraded to 21 Mbps.
So 4G networks will figure in too. Ericsson researchers estimate that at least 50 percent of the globe will be covered by 4G in 2017 with mobile broadband subscriptions expected to hit five billion that year — up fivefold from 2011. LTE/4G networks will be given a more significant boost from smartphone subscriptions, which are predicted to topple 3 billion by 2017, an incredible jump from 700 million in 2011.
Related:
- Google to centralize Android development and sales
- Former Sun CEO: We would have paid Google for Java phone
- Sony revival plan: Cut 10,000 jobs; refocus on phones, TV, gaming
- Sony hit by tax bill, doubles loss forecast; loses $6.4 billion
- Ericsson completes BelAir acquisition in cellular roots return
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