Category: Mobile Phone Service

Thanks For Approving My Merger!

Christian

T-Mobile’s former CEO, John Legere, was extremely successful in branding himself as an advocate for consumers. While I admire Legere’s success, I don’t think he lived up to the persona he created.1

Today, Legere shared a tweet that reaffirmed my feelings:


While I think a lot of criticism of Ajit Pai has been unfair, “advocating for wireless competition” is quite the phrase. It feels particularly insincere coming from Legere who made the better part of $100 million from a bonus and other compensation tied to the closure of the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint. I’m on the record saying I expected the merger to be bad for consumers. Eight months later, I continue to stand by my view.

Green traffic light

Tracfone Acquisition Gets A Green Light

Christian

Earlier this year, Verizon announced plans to acquire Tracfone and its roughly 20 million subscribers. Before an acquisition like this one becomes official, companies have to notify the FTC and DOJ. Here’s how the FTC explains the process:

The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act established the federal premerger notification program, which provides the FTC and the Department of Justice with information about large mergers and acquisitions before they occur. The parties to certain proposed transactions must submit premerger notification to the FTC and DOJ. Premerger notification involves completing an HSR Form, also called a ‘Notification and Report Form for Certain Mergers and Acquisitions,’ with information about each company’s business. The parties may not close their deal until the waiting period outlined in the HSR Act has passed, or the government has granted early termination of the waiting period.

It looks like Verizon’s acquisition of Tracfone was granted an early termination of the waiting period:

Screenshot from the FTC's website

Verizon Hints At Plans For Tracfone Subscribers

Christian

Earlier this year, Verizon announced plans to acquire Tracfone and its roughly 20 million subscribers. While more than half of Tracfone’s subscribers already have service that runs over Verizon’s network, it has been unclear what might happen to the 8 to 9 million Tracfone subscribers on other networks.

In an investor event a few days ago, Ronan Dunne, a Verizon executive, hinted at how Verizon might handle those subscribers if the acquisition goes through:

Just for context, about 13 million of their [Tracfone’s] 21 million, 22 million customers ride on the Verizon network today, but there’s 8 million or 9 million thatride on competitor networks. And we have the opportunity to migrate those across to be on to Verizon.

I’m not sure how seriously I should take Dunne’s words. I still think Verizon may sell off Tracfone subscribers on other networks—selling off some subscribers may appease regulators who are reluctant to allow the acquisition.

Mint Mobile Testing Premium “Treatmint” Support Program

Christian

A user on Reddit recently shared a glowing review of a premium support program Mint Mobile is testing. Here’s an excerpt:

Just participated in Mint Mobile’s white glove support program called Treatmint.

Totally rocks! live human support seven days a week…Best tech support I have ever received from any carrier. Totally knowledgeable about carriers, devices, LTE bands, settings.

It’s great to see Mint experimenting with potential improvements to the customer support experience. I’d love to have more carriers buck the norms of lousy support, convoluted phone trees, and long hold times.

As best as I can tell, Mint is considering using Treatmint as an add-on service or a perk on premium plans. The idea of allowing subscribers to pay for better support is interesting. There’s an argument that charging for good support is both fair and efficient. Some people rarely call customer support and try their hardest to resolve issues without help. Does it really make sense for these people to subsidize the costs of subscribers that call customer support regularly?

On the flip side, I worry that a premium support program could create perverse incentives. Carriers charging for premium support might let the quality of their regular support decline so that more people pay for premium service.

eSIM concept photo

Mint Mobile’s eSIM Rollout

Christian 2 Comments

Mint Mobile is starting to rollout eSIM plans. Yesterday, a Reddit user posted a screenshot of a text conversation with a Mint Mobile support agent. In the discussion, the agent stated, “We will be offering eSIM soon, for iPhone X and above.”

The information the chat representative shared can’t be entirely accurate since the iPhone X doesn’t support eSIMs. I’m guessing Mint will initially support eSIMs on all iPhones released after the iPhone X.

Rizwan Kassim, a co-founder of Mint, eventually commented on the Reddit thread. Kassim confirmed that eSIM was coming and attempted to temper people’s expectations:

Before everyone goes ballistic … let the thing actually come out and I’ll share more then. =)

Whatever happens, it’ll be a phased rollout and won’t be available in all places to all people immediately. but soon thereafter.

Today, another Reddit user shared that he or she successfully ordered eSIM-based service. While the rollout of eSIM has started, Kassim’s point about the phased rollout looks accurate. My attempts to order eSIM service (or even find an eSIM option) were unsuccessful.

Ting Launches New Plans & Pricing

Christian

Ting’s subscribers and some of the company’s other assets were acquired by DISH earlier this year. At the time of the acquisition, Elliot Noss, the CEO of Ting’s parent company, wrote:

Soon, DISH will be offering much improved pricing.

Today, Ting is delivering on that promise. The carrier just launched four new plans. While almost all Ting subscribers will get better prices through the new plans, an email I received stated, “Existing customers are also welcome to keep their current Ting Mobile rates should they wish to.”

Ting’s new Flex option is similar to Ting’s old pay-for-what-you-use model. A base price of $10 per month provides service with unlimited minutes and texts. Subscribers on the Flex plan then pay $5 per gigabyte of data used (half of Ting’s old $10 per gigabyte rate).

Ting’s new plans include three other options that may make sense for heavier data users. Each option includes unlimited minutes and texts:

Set 5 GB

  • $25 per month
  • 5GB of full-speed data each month
  • No restrictions on mobile hotspot data

Unlimited

  • $45 per month
  • 22GB of full-speed data each month
  • Up to 12GB of data per month can be used for mobile hotspots

Unlimited Pro

  • $60 per month
  • 35GB of full-speed data each month
  • Up to 30GB of data per month can be used for mobile hotspots

Subscribers on these plans that run out of full-speed data can use additional data at sluggish, 2G speeds at no extra charge.

“Unlimited” done right

I’m normally critical of carriers offering “unlimited” plans that cap full-speed data. While the word “unlimited” in the names of some of Ting’s plans could be misleading, Ting is transparent about data caps. The screenshot below comes from Ting’s plans page:

Ting "Unlimited" plan characteristics screenshot

Ting’s transparency stands in contrast to the usual strategy of burring limitations in fine print.

Ting post-acquisition

I’m not sure how much confidence I have in Ting following the acquisition by DISH. While Ting currently offers a great customer experience and some of the best support agents in the industry, I’m less optimistic about the long term.

I’m guessing Ting’s subscriber base will eventually be folded into DISH or another carrier owned by DISH. In all likelihood, the transition will lead to deterioration in the quality of subscribers’ experiences.1

Man holding a ruler

Mint Mobile Pushes Back On Charging For Data Subscribers Don’t Use

Christian

In September, Mint Mobile launched an unlimited plan. The plan is a good deal with a price as low as $30 per month, but I’ve been critical of Mint using the word “unlimited” to describe a plan that actually includes 35GB of data each month.

Yesterday, one of Mint’s owners, Ryan Reynolds, shared a video about an upcoming feature on Mint’s unlimited plan. Soon, Mint will begin recommending that light and moderate data users on the unlimited plan renew to cheaper plans with smaller data allotments. Here’s how Mint explains it:

What if you don’t really need unlimited? Seriously, if you don’t, we can help you save even more money with Mint…we’re gonna be sending you monthly updates showing you exactly how much data you’re using. You can also check your data usage in the app. Then, when it’s time to renew your plan, we’ll recommend the perfect plan for you so you can save as much money as possible. And if that means you should downgrade into something that isn’t unlimited, then we’re gonna suggest you do so. BTW, the average person only uses about 6GB per month.

But wait, don’t most big wireless companies try to upsell me even if I don’t need it? Yes, they certainly do…but luckily, we’re not them. Our whole thing is to make sure you get premium wireless for less. Because if you’re only using 5, 6 or even 9 GBs a month, you shouldn’t be paying more for an unlimited plan you don’t need.

I’m glad to see Mint pushing against the industry’s trend towards unlimited plans for everyone. You can see Ryan Reynolds full announcement below:

FCC Hits T-Mobile With A $200 Million Fine For Sprint’s Abuse Of The Lifeline Program

Christian

The FCC fined T-Mobile $200 million for Sprint’s abuse of the Lifeline program. Under the Lifeline program, wireless carriers can get a nearly $10 subsidy for each eligible, low-income American they provide phone service to. Often, the Lifeline subsidy is large enough for carriers to offer basic service at no cost to eligible consumers.

According to the Lifeline program rules, carriers are only supposed to get subsidies for lines that are in active use. Lines that go unused are supposed to become ineligible for a subsidy. Here’s how the FCC explains the rationale for rules about usage:

The FCC developed this and other rules after investigations showed that companies were aggressively selling free Lifeline service, knowing that they would get paid each month even if consumers didn’t use their phones. Since there was no bill, consumers had no incentive to relinquish the subscription.

Before Sprint’s merger with T-Mobile, the carrier was receiving subsidies for almost a million lines that we’re in violation of the usage rules. Since T-Mobile now owns Sprint, T-Mobile is on the hook for the FCC’s $200 million fine. The FCC’s press release describes the fine as the “largest fixed-amount penalty to be paid in Commission history.”

T-Mobile’s Update On Mid-Band 5G

Christian

In today’s press release from T-Mobile, the company claims that it has doubled the number of cities where it offers mid-band 5G service over the last month. The company expects to further expand mid-band, 5G coverage by the end of 2020:

Engineers are lighting up 1,000 sites per month with 2.5 GHz 5G and T-Mobile has plans to cover 100 million people with mid-band 5G by the end of the year.

While the press release involves an obnoxious amount of hype and marketing-speak, I think T-Mobile’s basic claim that mid-band service will bring consumers what they expect from 5G is more-or-less accurate. Low-band 5G doesn’t deliver speeds much better than what consumers are used to with LTE connections. Millimeter wave 5G coverage is still extremely sparse. With mid-band 5G, network operators can offer high speeds while still covering decent-sized areas.

For more information, see my page dedicated to T-Mobile’s 5G strategy.

Consumer Cellular Being Sold To A PE Firm

Christian

The private equity firm GTCR is planning to purchase a majority stake in the carrier Consumer Cellular for 2.3 billion dollars. With roughly four million subscribers, the purchase price comes out to over $500 per subscriber. The deal is expected to close in late 2020.

I don’t know what source Mike Dano of Light Reading is relying on, but he seems to have insights into the details of the sale:

After a bidding war that involved Dish Network, Altice USA, Ultra Mobile, a group led by Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton and others, Chicago private equity company GTCR has purchased Consumer Cellular for around $2.3 billion.

A year of acquisitions

The wireless market in the U.S. has seen a lot of movement lately. Sprint, Ting, Boost, Consumer Cellular, and a whole bunch of brands owned by TracFone have either been acquired in the last year or are in the process of being acquired.

The latest deal with Consumer Cellular presents interesting contrasts with the acquisition of Boost Mobile. DISH paid about 1.4 billion for roughly 9 million Boost subscribers. The cost per subscriber in the Boost acquisition came out to about $150, roughly one-fourth of the cost per subscriber in the Consumer Cellular acquisition. Consumer Cellular’s lower churn rate may explain some of the discrepancy.