AT&T rolls out $60, unlimited GoPhone offering

AT&T Mobility goosed its Pay As You Go GoPhone prepaid offering with the launch of an unlimited talk and messaging option for $60 per month, and as with all GoPhone offerings no contract is required. The new offering undercuts its unlimited postpaid offering by $40 per month, which does not include messaging, and nearly matches a rash of similar unlimited prepaid offerings bunched around the $50 per month level.
So, what’s the catch for those looking to join AT&T Mobility and seeing the significant price difference between its contract and no-contract offerings? The GoPhone plans are only available on a limited number of devices from AT&T Mobility, though the GoPhone SIM should be compatible with nearly all of the carrier’s devices. And phones acquired with a postpaid contract include a larger subsidy and corresponding lower price. Also, network coverage for the GoPhone service is limited to the carrier’s native network, while the postpaid offering includes coverage through roaming agreements.
The prepaid market is becoming increasingly important to U.S. wireless operators accounting for a majority of customer additions for both Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. during the second quarter, as well as for AT&T Mobility if Apple Inc. iPhone customers were removed from the carrier’s postpaid growth. Regional operators offering no-contract services, like Leap Wireless International Inc.’s Cricket service and MetroPCS Communications Inc., have reported strong growth over the past several quarters. Analysts expect the industry’s nationwide operators to continue making aggressive moves in the space to the detriment of smaller rivals.
“The unlimited prepaid landscape is certainly crowded. While many look generically at unlimited calling, they see national competition and a prepaid wild west of sorts,” noted William Ho, research director of wireless services at Current Analysis. “Regardless of the offering, one of the goals of national prepaid unlimited offerings is to eat into MetroPCS and Leap’s marketshare and growth as AT&T has already test marketed this product in MetroPCS and Leap markets such as south Florida, Las Vegas and San Diego.”
AT&T Mobility’s fraternal pricing twin Verizon Wireless continues to charge $4 per day for its branded unlimited prepaid offering, which also charges 1 cent per text message sent or received. Verizon Wireless does have a reseller agreement with Tracfone Wireless Inc. for its Straight Talk service that provides unlimited talk, text and a small amount of data usage on Verizon Wireless’ network for $45 per month.