Latest ‘un-carrier’ push discounts multiline plans, pays off EIPs
T-Mobile US angled toward the enterprise market for its latest “un-carrier” marketing push, announcing new rate plans targeted at enterprise customers and a pair of consumer-facing initiatives. The move comes as the carrier admits its position in the enterprise space pales in comparison to its larger rivals.
The enterprise push, which was part of its “Un-carrier 9.0” promotion, sees T-Mobile US expanding its current 10-line rate at $16 per line up to a total of 19 lines of service for that same $16 per line. For enterprise customers that need between 20 and 1,000 lines, the rate is cut to $15 per line; and further discounted to $10 per line for a company needing in excess of 1,000 lines of service. Each line includes T-Mobile US’ unlimited calling and messaging features, along with 1 gigabyte of high-speed data, with usage beyond 1 GB per month throttled down to 2G speeds.
For smartphone lines, enterprise customers can add 2 GB of data at $10 per month; unlimited LTE-based data for $30 per month; or add a tablet or hot spot to an account for $10 per month per 1 GB of LTE data. Those rates for the most part fall in line with what T-Mobile US currently offers on consumer lines of service, including its data pricing adjustments announced last year.
Looking to counter pooled data accounts offered by rivals, T-Mobile US is offering high-speed data packages beginning at $4.75 per GB for a total pool between 100 GB and 500 GB; $4.50 per GB for a total pool between 500 GB and 1 terabyte; and $4.25 per GB for a data pool of at least 1 TB. T-Mobile US was quick to note that its shared data plans do not charge for overage, as data speeds are instead throttled down to 2G speeds once a data bucket is consumed.
T-Mobile US also launched a set of business tools, including a partnership with GoDaddy that provides a free.com domain and website optimized for mobile devices to enterprises signed up for a business account with at least one line paying for additional data beyond the standard 1 GB. Enterprise customers can also receive a free custom.com e-mail address powered by Microsoft’s Office 365 platform for each line of service with an additional data package.
T-Mobile US currently entices consumers to sign up for additional data with its Data Stash program as part of its Un-carrier strategy that was announced late last year.
T-Mobile US is also looking to lure consumers by counting a business line as the first line on a family account, thus allowing a consumer line of service to be added at a discount compared with signing up for a single-line of consumer service. T-Mobile US’ Simple Choice plans with two lines of service begin at $80 per month, with the first line charged $50 and the second line charged at $30 per month. The new discount will allow customers to add a line of consumer service on top of a line of service already paid for by an employer at the $30 per month rate.
Consumer offer
Speaking of the consumer market, T-Mobile US said it will begin offering to pay off outstanding balances of up to $650 on devices tied to customers porting from a rival carrier. The offer, which is similar to one launched by Sprint last week, calls for T-Mobile US to pay off any outstanding balance on an equipment installment plan device when a customer brings that line to T-Mobile US.
Customers must sign up for one of T-Mobile US’ Simple Choice plans, trade in the device from their old carrier and buy a new one from T-Mobile US. The customer is said to then receive a trade-in value for that device as part of paying off the outstanding balance, with any remaining amount paid via a prepaid card.
Analysts have noted that such offers allow a carrier to offset some of that pay off by reselling the traded-in device.
As customers with a monthly device payment are not tied to a service contract, the new offer runs alongside T-Mobile US’ early termination fee payment offer.
T-Mobile US also said that beginning March 22, it is guaranteeing all rate plans for the lifetime of a customer remaining with the carrier, except in the case of unlimited data plans, which T-Mobile US said it would guarantee at the same price point for the next 2 years.
In announcing the latest moves, T-Mobile US CEO John Legere noted that the carrier is seeing more customers porting into the carrier from rivals compared to the end of 2014. That competitive hint comes as Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility executives said they are seeing a slowing of competitive pressures in the market.
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