Mikah SargentIn what appears to be an answer to recent discounts and offerings from "un-carrier" T-Mobile, Sprint has announced it will offer $60-per-month individual plans with unlimited talk, text and data.
The company is quick to point out that's $20 less than T-Mobile, and AT&T and Verizon can't compete because "[those] guys don't even have unlimited data."
This announcement from Sprint just so happened to come the same day T-Mobile announced a new deal for T-Mo subscribers who "rescue beleaguered Sprint customers." In return for referrals from Sprint, Verizon, or AT&T, each person would receive a full year of unlimited LTE data for no additional charge. (Video via T-Mobile)
While we'd normally consider this sort of thing a coincidence, it's clear the two companies were actively competing with one another.
Sprint wrote in its press release: "Customers can save $120 over two years versus T-Mobile's promotional price … and they don't have to jump through T-Mobile's hoops and recruit their friends." And T-Mobile really didn't hold back, writing, "Now again, the (ironically named) carrier has forsaken its loyal customers, offering its latest, 'best deals' to everyone but its own current customers. It's hard to watch."
A writer for ZDNet says T-Mobile and Sprint are battling for the third U.S. mobile carrier spot — behind AT&T and Verizon. Right now, it belongs to Sprint.
But if this report from CNET is any indication, Sprint's latest offerings might be a bit of a 'cornered animal' response.
"The new unlimited pricing plan along with a new Family Share Pack introduced on Monday are meant to kick-start Sprint's competitiveness in the market and help right a ship that has been going off course for several quarters. Sprint ... has been struggling to keep customers. In the last quarter, it lost 220,000 customers."
And we certainly can't forget there's a bit of bad juju between the two companies. It's been a long-held rumor Sprint intended to acquire T-Mobile.
But The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month the company ended up dropping those plans and hired a new CEO instead.
In the end, we think a writer for The Next Web brings up a good point: "It's a good time to be on the market for a new carrier."
The competition between the two companies looks to be a lot more beneficial to consumers than any acquisition would have been. Keep on fighting, mobile carriers! We certainly don't mind unlimited data at a discount.
