LOS ANGELES-June cell-phone service costs are down 3.3 percent, the largest monthly decrease seen in a year, according to Econ One’s latest cost survey. For once, the reason is not the shaky economic factors of late, but rather the season.
“Once again, we appear to be witnessing providers’ summer `saleabrations,”‘ explained Econ One economist Charles Mahla. “Like last year, carriers used June to introduce summer sales promotions. If the coming months are also similar to last year, the strong downward movement will end or even slightly reverse its course.” Last June, average service costs dropped 4 percent.
This June, the biggest cost cuts were seen in Pittsburgh, with an 8.4-percent drop, monthly service there now averages $36.45. It was followed by New York, with a 7-percent drop, then Houston with 6.2 percent and Boston and St. Louis with 5.4-percent drops.
Sprint played the biggest role in the drops, according to Econ One. Its prices declined 14 percent across all 25 cities surveyed. VoiceStream was close behind, at least in Pittsburgh, where its plans saw a 12-percent drop.
With the recent decreases, the most expensive city is San Diego at $42.34, followed closely by San Francisco, Cincinnati, Boston and Los Angeles. Least expensive is Phoenix at $35.47, then Houston, Minneapolis, Denver and Portland.
The only city that saw an increase at all in service costs for June was Chicago at 6 percent.
