GoPhone multiline discount falls short of sister-brand Cricket Wireless savings, looks to stack up against similar promo from T-Mobile’s MetroPCS service
Prepaid remains an intensely competitive environment for domestic mobile operators, with AT&T Mobility set to bolster its GoPhone platform with a new multiline promotion.
The deal, which is set to begin Aug. 19, allows customers to sign up to five consumer lines or 10 business lines on a single prepaid account. Each line must be at least the carrier’s $45 per month plan, which includes unlimited calling, text messaging and up to 3 gigabytes of unthrottled data. Customers also can select the GoPhone $60 per month plan, which includes up to 6 GB of unthrottled data and the ability to tap the data allotment in Mexico and Canada.
For the second line added, the account receives a $5 per month discount; a $10 discount for the third line; $15 discount for the fourth line; and $20 discount for each additional line. Consumer accounts will see a maximum of $50 a month in total discounts, with enterprise customers eligible for up to $150 per month in discounts if activating all 10 eligible lines.
The promotion does pale in comparison to AT&T Mobility’s Cricket Wireless prepaid brand, which has a long-running deal offering up to $100 in total rate plan savings across five lines. That deal was launched two years ago and took over a similar offer provided by AT&T Mobility’s now defunct Aio Wireless prepaid brand.
AT&T Mobility’s prepaid business was the telecom giant’s only market segment to post year-over-year customer growth for the recently completed second quarter, which surged more than 10% to 365,000 net additions. Only T-Mobile US managed to outgrow AT&T Mobility in the prepaid space in the last quarter, adding 476,000 net connections, while both Verizon Wireless and Sprint posted customer losses in their prepaid efforts.
AT&T Mobility in May started offering GoPhone customers an extra gigabyte of unthrottled LTE data, as well as the ability for customers on the $60 plan to use that data across North America. The deal looked to counter new offerings from rivals, including a multiline deal from T-Mobile US’ MetroPCS brand.
Rivals have since continued to roll out new prepaid promotions, including a recent push in device discounts from Cricket Wireless and MetroPCS. These also come ahead of a planned revamp by Sprint of its Virgin Mobile USA prepaid brand, which has called upon new leadership and a change in headquarter location.
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