Verizon Value Brands and MobileX both cut a high profile at the All Wireless & Prepaid Expo and the expo also provided a venue for some spirited exchanges between carriers. The conference was held in Las Vegas in late August.
Verizon Value Brands and MobileX had especially high profiles at the expo, as both had major after-hours events, both had high visibility on the show floor, and both had high-profile executives speaking at the conference. As the expo began, four prepaid carrier executives were on the stage, including Sam Sindha and Robert Yap. Sindha is the SVP of Retail Sales and Distribution for Boost Mobile. Yap was a co-founder of Gen Mobile and he manages the brand as a Senior Vice President at EchoStar. Sindha and Yap keynoted at the Expo as a duo.
Testy but funny exchange
At one point, MobileX CEO Peter Adderton asked for a show of hands from Visible dealers. There were none. He said that Verizon was undercutting its dealers by selling Visible with cheaper plans, adding that MobileX does not discriminate against dealers. He then asked Verizon Value brands Chief Revenue Officer David Kim whether he had spent much of his career with Boost Mobile. When Kim nodded his head, Adderton said, “You’re welcome,” as Adderton was the founder of Boost Mobile. Laughter erupted.
Kim had a comeback. “At the end of the day, anything you do, I will do better,” he retorted. Loud cheers erupted. Adderton had a comeback of his own, pointing out that Verizon has more than 100 million customers and a high ARPU. He said that if Kim gets competitive and undercuts this large base, “You’ll be working for me.” “I highly doubt I’ll be working for you ever,” Kim shot back. “I appreciate the very nice slugfest we’ve had,” I said, bringing the debate to an end. As Conference Director of the Expo, it was my job to moderate.
The executives speak
Adderton spoke passionately about the value of building a brand. He mentioned initiatives such as involvement in the X Games. “I’m a big believer in 50% value and 50% brand,” he said, meaning that 50% of the marketing budget should be used to build a brand. He also addressed a MobileX press release that went out from Las Vegas that day. The press release also stated that MobileX has added four companies to its master agent portfolio, has made moves to make activations and payments easier, and would be launching the Mobile X Play in the dealer channel.
When David Kim took the podium, he expressed his affection for the dealer channel. “I am the dealer channel, I’ve always been the dealer channel, and I’ll always fight for the dealer channel,” he said. Kim said that Total Wireless now has about 1,000 stores open and said that three Total Wireless stores are opening per day. He invited dealers to a party that he would be hosting that night.
I asked David Kim about the lack of attention being given to TracFone, which has not had any TV or radio advertising recently and has had little in the way of promotions. “Jeff, you gotta give me some credit, man,” he responded. Kim added, “I’ve been at Verizon like five months.” He said that “we have something very interesting coming with TracFone,” adding that this would happen “very soon.”
Sindha and Yap combined to deliver the keynote. The former said that Boost Mobile has positive subscriber momentum and added that the company’s network now reaches 200 million people with 5G voice. He said that the recent move to unify Boost Mobile with Boost Infinite would simplify the customer experience. Yap noted that other carriers are launching satellite capabilities such as text messaging and he said that his company is on the same path.
A tweet from the All Wireless & Prepaid Expo with pictures from this session is here. A YouTube video of the session is here.
All Wireless & Prepaid Expo breaks all-time records
The Expo had close to 4,000 attendees in 2023 and this year, it had well more than 4,000 attendees, with attendance up approximately 20%. The amount of space devoted to booths nearly doubled this year versus 2023 levels. The Expo was held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, as it was in previous years. There was an overflow crowd for the session that featured the prepaid carrier executives.
There were five other conference sessions. Topics included ACP/Lifeline services, various ways prepaid retailers can improve revenues and operations, issues facing prepaid dealers, proper execution of a phone repair business, and advanced technologies for sustained growth.
After-hours events arise for the expo
I used to attend the annual CTIA conferences and I recall the buzz about after-hours events held by carriers and equipment vendors. The All Wireless & Prepaid Expo had similar events this year. Verizon held a major dealer-focused event at a nearby hotel. The Verizon event was largely focused on recruiting dealers interested in operating Total Wireless stores and selling Simple Mobile and Verizon Prepaid.
There was a MobileX Mixer event at the Vista Cocktail Lounge at Caesars Palace, hosted by MobileX CEO Peter Adderton. Adderton’s tweet about the event is here. I was there and noticed that the place was packed. Adderton announced a giveaway of skateboards for children of those at the mixer. This seemed to be related to the MobileX sponsorship of the X Games, which was featured prominently at the mixer and at the booth that was shared by MobileX and Unwired, which is a master agent for MobileX.
Increase in event coverage by influencers and others
The Boon of Wireless podcast was live on the show floor, interviewing prepaid industry leaders. The podcast is operated by veteran carrier executive Jon Horovitz, who has recently interviewed a variety of people prominent in prepaid wireless for his podcast. I recently tweeted a link to this podcast.
Some influencers were there, including Stetson Doggett, who operates a popular telecom channel on YouTube as well as BestPhonePlans.net and CoverageMap.com. Max Hietpas of Max Tech Studios also attended the event. An analyst from RBC Capital Markets was at the Expo. Several telecom analysts were present, including Maurice Klaehne of Counterpoint Research, who provided a detailed, quantitative breakdown about smartphones sold by prepaid carriers.
Hot topics: Total Wireless retail and MVNEs
Total Wireless retail was the number one topic at the event. In addition to the after-hours event, with David Kim providing details on the store growth of Total Wireless. Verizon Value executive David Kim spoke, indicating continued robust growth of this retail push. John Howell, a dealer who operates Total Wireless stores in Florida, provided a dealer perspective on the effort. Signage for Total Wireless was prominent on the show floor, seen at the booths of various members of the Total Wireless ecosystem, including master agents such as AntGen.
Companies that facilitate MVNOs were prominent at the Expo. I use the term MVNEs for such companies, although the terminology and the level of services vary among such companies. One of these was Gigs and its co-founder, Dennis Bauer, spoke at the Expo. Other companies involved in such enablement services had booths on the show floor, including Boom Technologies, Plum, Telispire, Optiva, and MVNO Connect.
On the show floor: Carriers, handset makers, master agents, payment vendors, and others
Carriers with booths on the Expo floor were Cricket Wireless, H2O Wireless, Ultra Mobile, MobileX, Gen Mobile, AirVoice Wireless, Rivertel, Light Mobile, Now (Comcast’s prepaid brand), and LinkUp Mobile, which is operated by SurgePays. Some handset makers – including Blu Products, Foxx Development, Nuu Mobile, and Maxwest – also had booths. Marceco, a major master agent for Boost Mobile, had a prominent booth, as seen in this film clip posted to LinkedIn, and company president Kim Laue spoke at the conference. Other master agents included Wireless Masters and Modern Wireless. Payment vendors such as epay and Vidapay also had a presence on the show floor. Three emerging MVNOs – LinkUp Mobile, Rivertel, and Light Mobile – had booths at the Expo. And MobileX is as competitive as ever and is working to build a strong brand.
Press releases from Verizon and MobileX
“Total Wireless launches $15 per line offer for Metro, Mint Mobile, Ultra Mobile and T-Mobile switchers” was the headline of an August 28 press release from Verizon. This is a “a limited-time offer for customers of Metro, Mint Mobile, Ultra Mobile and T-Mobile to switch to Total Wireless,” per Verizon. The press release also notes a new BYO switcher offer from Visible, which “which was launched a mere 24 hours after Mint Mobile introduced an offer for AT&T and Verizon switchers,” the carrier stated. MobileX issued a press release from Las Vegas during the Expo, as noted above.
Competition is good
The Expo had “a very nice slugfest” between David Kim and Peter Adderton and that suits me. Both executives were fiery and assertive, but they were also professional and had a sense of humor. I have always believed that competition sharpens carriers and produces more affordable pricing for consumers, so it was a good thing that the session was spicy.
