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Boost Mobile boosts Sprint’s quarter with new subscribers

October 29th, 2009, 11:03 am by

Boost MobileWhoa! Irvine’s little ol’ prepaid wireless carrier isn’t so little anymore. So far this year, Boost Mobile has added 2.1 million net new customers. That helped limit parent company Sprint Nextel to just a 135,000 net loss of retail subscribers during the July to September quarter (ouch).

Another ouch – Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse considered the quarter the company’s “best net retail subscriber results in more than two years,” according to the press release. Sprint now has 48.3 million customers, down from 48.8 million in the second quarter and down from 49.1 million in the first quarter.

Boost is obviously a bright spot. Boost Mobile said it grew 14.4 percent this year over last year. It credits the $50 monthly unlimited plan, which Boost introduced in January. It also got another boost from adding new retailers like Sam’s Club and Car Toys.

Also from today’s earnings release, which categorizes all of Sprint’s prepaid services under one line item:

  • Sprint now has 5.7 million prepaid subscribers (5.2 million on iDEN and 500,000 on CDMA)
  • Churn rate, or the percent of customers coming and going, was down to 6.65 percent during the quarter for prepaid customers, compared to 8.16 percent a year ago and 6.38 percent in the second quarter of 2009. The improvement was attributed to the new unlimited plan.
  • Sprint is making more money off each prepaid customer than before. Prepaid average customer revenues during the quarter was $35 compared to $31 in the year-ago period and $34 in the second quarter of 2009.

Rival MetroPCS plans to release its results next Thursday.

More on cell, mobile services:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services

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Boost Mobile phone soars 17.5 miles high to edge of space

September 16th, 2009, 8:55 am by

Motorola i290 phone using Boost Mobile service texts from 17.5 miles in air.UPDATED, 9/17/09: Added comment from one of the students, plus link to the video.

Three Massachusetts Institute of Technology students must be high-fiving one another for successfully sending a $20 helium balloon 18 miles up in the air, taking snazzy photos of the earth, and then using a Boost Mobile phone’s GPS to hunt down the goods after the 40-minute plummet.

For “Project Icarus,” students Oliver Yeh, Justin Lee, Eric Newton used a Motorola i290 phone (sold out on Boost’s site, by the way), which texted them its GPS coordinates using Boost’s prepaid service.

The phone managed to send its location before landing but unfortunately got its antenna buried in the ground, preventing further transmission of its location.

Motorola i290 phone from Boost Mobile used by MIT students to take pictures of space.

Photo from space.1337arts.com

Still, the Canon A470 camera was intact and photos are brag worthy, considering the project’s budget was a mere $150.

“We chose Boost Mobile because the i290 was a widely available cell phone that has both GPS and Web functionality,” Yeh said in an e-mail. His team took all the pictures — one taken every five seconds — and turned it into a video, which was uploaded Wednesday.

Boost Mobile, the Irvine prepaid phone company, is thrilled to be a part of it — even if it was unofficially.

“We think it’s out of this world!  No pun intended, hahaha.  Just kidding!” said Danielle Alvarez, a spokeswoman for the fun-loving wireless company.

“In all seriousness,” Alvarez continued in an e-mail, “This experiment a testament to the quality and dependability of every Motorola handset produced for Boost Mobile. First responders know the importance of the Nextel Nationwide Network for call connectivity and GPS functionality, an added benefit for all Boost Mobile customers.”

The real story behind this is that these students managed to take some beautiful pictures of the earth’s rim on a mere $150 budget. The guys plan to post a how-to video at their Web site, space.1337arts.com. Oh, and they’re taking donations to pay for webhosting services and other expenses. They are students, after all.

Photos taken 17.5 miles above earth.

Related:

Past stories on Boost Mobile:

Posted in: Cell phones • Gadgets • • • • • • • • | 5 Comments »

U.S. pays most for cell service; wireless firms disagree

August 12th, 2009, 11:02 am by

Ka-ching!Noted: Americans pay more for cell phone service then (corrected 12:20 p.m.) than, well, everyone else in the world, according to a new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development.

The Paris, France-based OECD, which studies economies and offers suggestions to government, concluded that the mid-level user in the U.S. spends $635.85 a year for cell phone service compared to a mere $131.41 in the Netherlands and Finland. That plan includes 780 voice calls, 600 text messages and 8 multimedia messages. (See the chart below showing OECD’s average annual bill for medium-usage wireless customers. The full list of countries is HERE.)

CNet’s Marguerite Reardon  points out that the U.S. will likely continue to be the most expensive as Verizon, Sprint and others invest in faster 4G wireless networks and ultimately raise prices even higher. Although, she noted, more consumers might very well turn to lower-cost prepaid services with flat-rate pricing.

Country Total ($US)
Netherlands 131.44
Finland 131.44
Sweden 137.94
New Zealand 256.02
Switzerland 267.08
Japan 267.49
United Kingdom 272.02
OECD 317.77
Australia 332.99
Korea 340.13
France 378.02
Italy 394.26
Germany 405.20
Mexico 417.62
Canada 500.63
Spain 508.26
United States 635.85
  Full list: OECD

But wait a minute, says the CTIA Wireless Association, which represents the nation’s wireless companies. It issued an immediate response, calling the study “flawed.”
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Comparing calling plans by country make no sense, it said. Consumers in America make way more calls than everyone else thanks to family calling packages and unlimited plans, which weren’t taken into account by the OECD study.

CTIA stood by its previous statement that U.S. consumers have the lowest per-minute rates of all OECD countries — $0.06 per minute (based on the Federal Communications Commission annual report of the mobile industry, page 8).

Someone over at the CTIA also had time to read through the voluminous OECD report and pointed to “the real story,” on page 275. CTIA provided the excerpt:   Read the rest of this entry »

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Unlimited plans, good service ups Boost Mobile’s subscribers

August 3rd, 2009, 11:22 am by

Boost MobileWhoa! Consumers are really beginning to pay attention to prepaid phones.

Irvine’s Boost Mobile signed up 1.65 million new customers during the three months ending June 30. After counting up subscribers it lost, Boost added  777,000 net customers during its second quarter 2009. Win some, lose some.

“That’s the highest number of net adds in three years,” Matt Carter, Boost’s president, told me as he offered an update on the health of Orange County’s prepaid mobile company.

Matt Carter, president of Boost Mobile in Irvine. Image courtesy of Boost Mobile.

Matt Carter, Boost Mobile president

Boost has had some serious competition in the prepaid mobile market, a business it entered in 2002.  Today, not only are there prepaid offerings from the traditional post-paid wireless companies, but newbies like MetroPCS and Cricket Wireless have wowed customers with their unlimited plans. Boost ended up changing its whole target customer last fall — from appealing to the young and hip to the budget conscious.

It launched one of the industry’s first $50 unlimited text and talk plans, introduced its first Boost-branded stores, and hired sexy Indy car racer Danica Patrick, who helped Boost target a new audience.  All of those efforts apparently helped. Boost’s subscribers grew 18 percent to 5 million in three months. Average monthly bill per customer? Up $3 to $34 within three months.

“We shifted from a lifestyle youth-oriented brand to value-conscious consumers. The way we look at Danica … she’s an iconic figure. You go out to the race car events and a lot of those folks who we’re trying to get are there, they shop at Wal-Mart, they shop at Best Buy. They may work for General Motors,” Carter said.

But don’t expect Boost to drop the price on its unlimited monthly plan anytime soon. Read the rest of this entry »

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Best prepaid phone service rankings revealed — what a turnaround!

August 3rd, 2009, 7:53 am by

J.D. Power and AssociatesA mobile phone without a contract? Ever? If you haven’t looked at the prepaid phone industry lately, you might want to look again. Customers are more satisfied then ever before, plus it’s cheaper. 

According to the latest report from J.D. Power and Associates, the customer-service ratings group, prepaid service has changed from when it targeted credit-challenged customers. Today, a good chunk of new users are refugees of traditional post-paid service.

Results in this year’s survey ranked overall prepaid wireless customer service satisfaction at 750 out of 1,000 points (based on service, reliability, cost and performance of prepaid service — the higher the score, the better). Last year, the industry scored 719 points. Meanwhile, the post-paid industry this year hovered in the high 600s.

mobilephonePrepaid’s overall winner, Net10, earned the highest mark of 10 prepaid carriers — 774 on a 1,000 point scale. But just a few points away at 771 in third place was Irvine’s Boost Mobile, which has been overhauling its mission in order to compete in the crowded market. This is a complete turnaround from last year when Boost was No. 7 and below the industry average. Net10 was nowhere to be found on the J.D. Power 2008 list. 

“NET10 differentiates itself from other companies by simplifying the wireless experience with straightforward pricing, virtually no roaming charges and robust nationwide network coverage,” Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power and Associates, said in this year’s press release. “Users find they don’t have to worry about restrictive calling areas and can maintain their account without hassle.”

While these two companies have improved, others completely tumbled, including last year’s winner MetroPCS, which landed at the very bottom this year. The company, known for offering generous unlimited plans fumbled on customer service, performance and reliability issues and promotions. Rival cheap carrier Cricket Communications also fell to ninth place, from last year’s perch in third. Read the rest of this entry »

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Boost gets new sibling as Virgin joins Sprint family

July 28th, 2009, 7:30 am by

Virgin Mobile USABoost Mobile may be “Where you at,” but today, rival Virgin Mobile USA is where it’s at. Boost’s parent, Sprint Nextel, announced plans to buy the prepaid wireless provider for $483 million.

“Prepaid is growing at an unprecedented rate with consumers keenly focused on value. Virgin Mobile is an iconic brand in the marketplace that will complement our Boost Mobile brand,” said Dan Hesse, Sprint Nextel president and chief executive officer in a statement.

Virgin, based in New Jersey, uses the Sprint network for its service. It has competed head-to-head for years with Boost Mobile, based in Irvine. Boost was among the first of the prepaid crowd to offer a $50/month unlimited plan in January (see, “Boost Mobile adds ‘tax-free’ $50/month unlimited plan“).   Virgin added its unlimited plan for one penny less in April.

The union of the two prepaid rivals should be civil. Sprint plans to keep each brand separate and distinct. But Dan Schulman, currently Virgin’s chief executive officer, will lead Sprint’s prepaid business after the deal closes. I’ll be speaking to Matt Carter, Boost Mobile’s president, later this week to see what he thinks about that.

Sprint said it will pay a total equity value of $483 million for Virgin. That includes Sprint’s 13.1 percent ownership interest in Virgin. Sprint plans to retire Virgin’s outstanding debt, which is around $248 million. Public shareholders will receive $5.50 per share.

Sprint will release its second-quarter earnings report on Wednesday. More details are expected. 

More on cell-phones:


Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services

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Boost Mobile calls rival’s $5 international plan ‘impossible’

June 26th, 2009, 4:56 pm by

Boost Mobile battles MetroPCS' new $5 international plan.If being able to call friends and family overseas anytime you feel like it for just $5 a month on your cell phone sounds unbelievable, it is, insists Irvine’s Boost Mobile.

The prepaid mobile phone provider took umbrage with rival MetroPCS, which announced such a deal on Wednesday. MetroPCS subscribers can now make unlimited calls to more than 1,000 cities worldwide with the new international plan, which is $5 per month when added to plans of $40 or more.  

“Anything can be profitable depending on the usage,” said Justin Brenan, Boost Mobile’s business director. “They’re obviously taking a bet on the usage. … They’re betting customers won’t use it very much.”

Consumers need to look closely at the details of the plan. Brenan says that calls to cell phones in Mexico aren’t included in MetroPCS’ unlimited plan, which is “a pretty big omission by MetroPCS,” he said. MetroPCS has not responded to the charge, but an attempt to see whether some Mexico-based wireless numbers on MetroPCS’ phone number lookup site qualify was negative. 

MetroPCS could be making money by forcing customers to upgrade to more expensive plans. Or it could be using inferior voice-over-internet technology, Brenan theorized. It could also be hiding fees and taxes so the $5 a month is just a minimum of what a customer pays. 

“We really have seen some seemingly impossible offers like this come from MetroPCS before and what happens is they disappear very quickly, which make it seem that it is too good to be true,” he said.

But the main reason why such pricing is impossible is settlement rates, which have been an international calling issue for years. Mobile companies in other countries charge these tax-like fees on foreign calls made to phones in their wireless network. Rates vary by country and differ from rates placed on calls to landline phones. In Boost’s case, calls to landlines in Mexico are $0.02, while calls to wireless phones are $0.10 per minute.

MetroPCS wouldn’t elaborate on how it plans to make money off the international plan. But in a statement, the company said it is profitable: “We don’t disclose pricing or profitability on individual products. However, our company is extremely profitable even with the launching of new markets and we have some of the lowest operating costs in the industry.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Boost Mobile opening 50 stores, none in O.C. — whatup?

May 8th, 2009, 11:39 am by

Boost MobileIrvine-based Boost Mobile said it plans to open 50 stores this year.

The company has signed leases for 11 stores at strip shopping centers in New York, Boston, Orlando, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Fresno and Van Nuys, said John Votava, spokesman for Boost Mobile. Last year, the company opened its first three stores in Huntington Park — the closest location to O.C., Houston and Miami.

Why doesn’t the company’s expansion plans include a store in Orange County where it’s headquartered?

Votava said Boost Mobile has “pretty good visibility” already in Orange County, where its products are sold at Walmart, Target and Radio Shack. But he added that an Orange County Boost Mobile store may be a possiblity in the future.

Right now, the company’s plans are to expose the brand elsewhere in the country. It holds the grand opening for the first of 50 stores today in Philadelphia. A Boost Mobile store offers more acessories and handset availability compared to the Boost Mobile selection offered at a Walmart or Target, Votava said.

Also on Jan. 22, Boost Mobile introduced a new prepaid plan offering unlimited anytime calling, text messaging, wireless Web and walkie-talkie services with a national calling area for $50 a month. “As economic woes continue and consumers begin to receive sobering credit card bills from the holiday shopping season, Boost Mobile is redefining value for wireless consumers,” according to a company press release.

More from OC Retail blog:

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Check out the Gadgetress Guide to local cell phone services 

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