The battle for wireless supremacy heated up this week as current No. 2 operator Verizon Wireless unveiled a slew of rate plan and service offerings that could help the carrier regain its position atop the domestic wireless market-a spot currently occupied by Cingular Wireless L.L.C. The moves also counter recent rate plan changes by Cingular that were launched in response to another set of changes made by Verizon Wireless last month.
Verizon Wireless’ most significant rate plan changes were to its prepaid offering that now includes free nighttime calling and free calls to the carrier’s more than 40 million other subscribers. The new offering, dubbed Inpulse, includes a daily access charge of 99 cents whether a customer uses the service or not, with domestic calling charged at a flat rate of 10 cents per minute.
The 99-cent per-day charge is automatically deducted from a customer’s airtime amount each day with the service being suspended if the user does not have at least 99 cents to cover the daily charge. Refill minutes expire between 30 days and 120 days after they are activated, depending on the amount of the refill.
The service includes domestic long-distance and on-network roaming, as well as a number of additional features, including voice mail, call waiting and call forwarding. Inpulse also provides for international calling to Canada and Mexico at 20 cents per minute plus airtime charges and to other available countries at 50 cents per minute plus airtime charges. Customers can also send and receive text messages at 5 cents per message sent or received.
The handsets for the service will include Kyocera Corp.’s KX414 and LG Electronics Co Ltd.’s VX3200, which were offered as part of the carrier’s previous prepaid offering. The Kyocera handset sells for $100, while the LG model sells for $130, with both handsets including $50 of airtime minutes each.
Verizon Wireless’ previous prepaid offering charged users a 25-cent per-call connection fee in addition to 10 cents per minute and did not include Inpulse’s free nighttime or on-network calling. The previous service also included only $15 in airtime with each new handset.
Verizon Wireless noted the new service provided customers not wanting to sign contracts or be locked into monthly billing programs with near-postpaid pricing at prepaid convenience.
“This is not about providing a service to people that are credit challenged,” said Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Brenda Raney. “It’s about offering a service to customers that may not yet have a credit record or for those who just want the freedom offered by a prepaid service.”
In addition to the prepaid offering, Verizon Wireless upgraded its wildly successful America’s Choice postpaid plans to now include no roaming charges anywhere in the United States. The plans provide the same calling minutes and prices as the recently updated America’s Choice plans, but remove the previous 69-cent per-minute charge for domestic roaming.
According to sales documents, the expanded coverage is provided through the addition of new roaming agreements covering 70 system identification numbers that current customers can access with an updated preferred roaming list download on their handsets.
Current America’s Choice customers who signed up for Verizon Wireless’ recently altered plans that began Jan. 17 are not required to extend their contracts when signing up for the new service. However, customers on older America’s Choice plans will need to sign new one- or two-year contracts to take advantage of the new offering.
The America’s Choice plans appear to bridge the gap between the carrier’s previous on-network offering and its higher-priced nationwide National SingleRate plans. America’s Choice customers pay well below 10 cents per minute for airtime charges, while National SingleRate plans charge between 10 cents and 25 cents per minute.
Sprint PCS launched a similar offering several years ago in the form of its Free & Clear America’s option that allows customers to add a no-charge roaming option for $5 per month.
Verizon Wireless’ rate plan changes follow updates made by Cingular earlier this month that included 50 additional minutes on its $60 per month Nation plan and the replacement of its previously offered $80-1,250-minute Nation plan with a pair of plans that include 1,100 minutes for $70 and 1,500 minutes for $85.
Analysts noted that the Cingular changes were necessary to counter changes made by Verizon Wireless last month that included an increase of between 50 minutes and 500 minutes on select America’s Choice plans.
“The Verizon Wireless changes left Cingular vulnerable and lagging at some comparable price points,” noted telecommunications industry analyst firm Current Analysis. “Cingular needed to address Verizon’s changes to remain competitive at those rates.”
On the service side, Verizon Wireless launched a trio of new handsets for its push-to-talk offering, bringing the carrier’s handset selection to four PTT models. The new handsets include the Motorola Inc. T300P, LG VX4700 and Kyocera KX444, which will join the previously offered Motorola V60p, which the carrier has offered since it launched PTT services in 2003. The phones are only available to customers signing up to an America’s Choice PTT plan.
Verizon Wireless also cut the pricing of its PTT offering from $20 per month for unlimited calls to $10 per month for unlimited access to the service. The expected price change matches the $10 per month Sprint PCS charges for its ReadyLink PTT service as well as Nextel Communications Inc.’s charge for its Nationwide Direct Connect service.
In addition to the new handsets, Verizon Wireless has reportedly made enhancements to its PTT offering that cut perceived call-latency times for initiating a call to around one second and drop in-call latency to less than one-and-a-half seconds. Industry sources noted that the network enhancements considerably improve the service’s call latency and are similar to Sprint PCS’ ReadyLink service that uses the same Motorola platform with the addition of call buffering software. Neither service as yet can match the sub-one-second call setup and in-call latency times provided by Nextel’s Direct Connect service.
