MetroPCS, the Dallas based prepaid mobile carrier, is pulling out all the stops to go after ‘cord cutters.’ Their most recent campaign, GroupLINE, encourages potential customers to cut their wireline home phone. GroupLINE essentially creates a simultaneous in bound ring for up to five MetroPCS’ Family Plan subscribers. It assigns a single in-bound number for the five lines while also allowing the five subscribers to maintain their individual mobile numbers. It also includes a shared voicemail account for all subscribers. In effect, it mimics a home wireline telephone number. GroupLINE is available for subscribers on MetroPCS’ Family Plan for an additional $5 per month.
The new feature creates yet another reason for customers to disconnect their home wireline service. In MetroPCS’ own words, GroupLINE “allows a one-call communication solution targeted at families and friends who are trying to save money in today’s economy by ‘cutting the cord’ and replacing their landline telephones with wireless phones.” No second guessing their strategy. As wireless penetration approaches saturation, wireless carriers will increasingly look for additional growth by aggressively targeting ‘wireline cord cutting.’ For MetroPCS and other wireless carriers, the gloves are off.
