Boost Mobile “not getting into the price war”

Will there be a price war in prepaid wireless? There have been factors indicating so, but it appears that there most likely will not. Even if there is, you can count out Boost Mobile. They’ve publicly stated that they won’t enter a price war, meaning they’ll stick with their $50 price point for unlimited services, the plan which helped spur the industry. This, despite slightly cheaper offerings from rivals like Straight Talk and MetroPCS.

We learned late last week that MetroPCS would improve its current services, adding roaming features to cheaper plans. This isn’t a direct price competition, but it does mean more services for consumers who are paying less. Therefore, it does have a bit of an impact price-wise, because consumers can now downgrade plans and receive many of the same features. Boost’s single price point makes it difficult to match such an offering.

Says Boost Mobile chief service officer Kelly Owens St. Julian (who was recently recognized as one of the top women in wireless): “We’ve been in this game for a long time, seven years, and our performance is resonating and people see the value in it.” She also noted that Boost is “not getting into the price war.” The company is faring well anyway, adding 777,000 net subscribers in the second quarter, including a net 938,000 on the iDEN network (offset by a 161,000 subscriber loss on CDMA).

We’ve heard companies say one thing and do another, so we’ll have to wait and see on this price war talk. It seems, though, that $50 is the magic number. Other companies are trying to squeak in lower, as is natural, but chances are it won’t lead to a situation where unlimited voice, text, and data is priced any lower.

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4 Responses

1. Blee Says
   

   yo joe! whats the update on Boost’s new phones. like the Banfi (i856) or the Mako?

   
   Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 1:46 pm
2. Joe Says
   

   I’ve got nothing on that front right now, Blee. If I hear something, I’ll post it.

   
   Posted on August 3rd, 2009 at 5:03 pm
3. JenG Says
   

   What does she (Kelly Owens) mean by ‘but chances are it won’t lead to a situation where unlimited voice, text, and data is priced any lower.’

   Straight Talk IS lower in price. And it doesn’t have the unreliable coverage Boost seems to be plagued with, either.

   
   Posted on August 4th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
4. Blee Says
   

   and by the way. Straight talk unlimited is 30mbs of data. even the $45 plan so how is that unlimited?

   
   Posted on August 4th, 2009 at 7:04 pm

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