September 14th, 2009
Sprint extends unlimited plan to businesses; Shares jump on acquisition rumors
Sprint said today that it’s rolling out new pricing plans for business customers, including the new “Any Mobile, Anytime” offering that it announced for consumers last week.
Called Business Advantage, the new offerings are an extension of Sprint’s aggressive campaign to lure back customers who left following the Nextel acquisition. In a statement, Sprint VP Tim Donahue, highlighted the competitiveness of the pricing plans:
No competitor can match our network assets, best-in-class convergence solutions, expanding 4G footprint, and wide portfolio of business products and devices. Now, when you add in our new Business Advantage plans, especially when combined with the Any Mobile, Anytime feature, no one can beat Sprint on value and competitive pricing. The plans can help businesses cut the cord and save money by purchasing based on the features they most use.
In a post earlier today, I shared the story of how I moved my wife and daughter to Sprint over the weekend, in a move that not only saves us money every month but introduces them to the mobile Web/smartphone world. In that post, I also noted how I first called my current service provider - Verizon - to check on promotions or new pricing plans before moving my wife and daughter to Sprint. The customer service rep asked me directly, “What can Verizon do to keep your business?” My reply was a simple, “Match Sprint’s pricing plan offerings and I’ll stay.” But, of course, she said she couldn’t do that. So we switched.
In recent months, I’ve written about new mobility management services - including a cross-platform offering by Verizon - that helps businesses better manage the hardware, software and service plans for a large enterprise.
Note to other carriers: These Friends and Family or Favorite Five or other calling circle plans designed to save customers money are all fine and good. But nothing counters “unlimited” like another “unlimited” plan. I’m living proof that consumers can be motivated by money-saving service plans. My guess is that business customers might also be motivated by those same types of plans.
Separately, a rumor that T-Mobile parent company Deutsche Telekom is studying a Sprint acquisition has surfaced again, months after it was originally reported. This time, the news comes from the UK newspaper The Telegraph, which says that an offer could come within a few weeks. While such a merger could beef up Sprint and T-Mobile to better compete with giants Verizon and AT&T in the U.S., others have pointed out that such a merger could be a nightmare. Sprint and T-Mobile use different technology.
Shares of Sprint were up more than 11 percent today on the Deutsche Telekom rumors.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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