Sprint has this really nice special deal wherein the major US wireless carrier offers to reduce an existing rate plan at a rival mobile network in half. Needless to say, the promo has become a hit with mobile users, and has been repeatedly extended, even catching the attention of the National Advertising Division (NAD). The special offer has certainly helped Sprint add 173,000 postpaid customers during the second quarter of this year. Some may remember that exactly a year ago, the fourth biggest wireless carrier in the United States had to deal with a loss of 12,000 customers.
But unfortunately, this promo may not last for long. Marcelo Claure, the chief executive officer of Sprint, has hinted that later this summer, the wireless carrier may introduce price hikes. He specifically alluded that before Apple releases its upcoming new iPhone 7 (which is expected to be unveiled around September later this year), Sprint might be introduce a new set of rate plans.
The cut your bill in half promo from Sprint may have done wonders in helping the wireless carrier add loads of postpaid customers, but the cost might have been too much for the company. During the most recent quarter, Sprint registered a loss amounting to $302 million, which is significantly higher than the $20 million loss it posted the year before. But Sprint can not be faulted for trying to attract new customers, especially after developing a sort of reputation in the last few years for offering inferior wireless services, at least compared to other members of the Big Four (Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile).
In the prepaid front, Sprint has been hit hard, losing 331,000 customers during the second quarter of 2016. Sprint currently has a couple of prepaid arms, namely Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, but increased competition has its brands struggling to keep up with AT&T’s Cricket Wireless and T-Mobile’s MetroPCS. It does not help that its Virgin Mobile is going through a massive reorganization right now. Still, as soon as the Virgin Mobile overhaul gets underway, Sprint can expect some returns, that is if all goes well.
From its latest quarterly earnings report, Sprint also revealed that its LTE Plus service is now made available in 237 markets, and its 2.5 GigaHertz spectrum now carries more LTE traffic than any of its other spectrum bands. According to the wireless carrier, it is looking to roll out three carrier aggregation as early as 2017.
