T-Mobile is going to trial a $50/month unlimited wireless plan in its San Francisco market. In addition, new subscribers will be offered a $135 rebate for signing up. It’s largely anticipated that the trial will go nationwide in a matter of weeks. Sprint’s Boost unit, a prepaid service based on the Nextel iDEN platform introduced a $50/month unlimited plan just a few weeks ago.
One could draw the conclusion that a price war is brewing – one that would not only impact wireless, but wireline as well. An unlimited voice plan for $50/month surely entices more people to drop their landline in favor of wireless only. And should these pricing plans help T-Mobile and Sprint eat into the growth factor of AT&T and Verizon, they may well join the party. For the time being, Verizon and AT&T seem content in cultivating their growing wireless data strategy with devices like the iPhone and the Storm, and allowing Sprint, T-Mobile, and smaller carriers like MetroPCS to battle it out for the ‘value’ segment.
