Wednesday, March 20, 2013

T-Mobile 'UnCarrier' Plan: Nice Language, Less Substance

T-Mobile USA has adopted an aggressive marketing tone lately, emphasizing that it will be an  "uncarrier." In other words, T-Mobile USA wants to grow by proving to users that it is not like a mobile service provider, in serious and relevant ways.

It is, to be sure, a bold ambition. Whether it can succeed is perhaps the bigger question. There already are signs T-Mobile USA might not be prepared to do enough in furtherance of that ambition, though. 

A memo suggests that T-Mobile is revamping plans in the near future to make unlimited talk and text a de facto part of the experience, where data is the variable cost.

Whether  T-Mobile USA actually is doing enough to back up its "uncarrier" claim is the issue. Verizon Wireless and AT&T already offer similar plans that make voice and texting (unlimited in the domestic market) a simple fixed cost, while it is the amount of Internet data access that is the primary variable cost.

So in that sense T-Mobile USA is copying the other carriers it wants to distinguish itself from. The moves by T-Mobile USA to "abandon" device subsidies likewise have gotten lots of attention. 

But T-Mobile also is offering installment plans that blunt the difference between device subsidies and installment plans. A more radical move might have been to end device subsidies and not offer installment plans, a route T-Mobile likely rightly decided was too risky. 

At the same time, T-Mobile USA will, at some point, face a Sprint that probably will try in its own way to further destabilize the U.S. mobile market as well. 

Perhaps the initial information is incorrect. Perhaps T-Mobile USA will produce something that has more impact. If T-Mobile USA wants to shake up the business, it will have to do so. 

No comments:

What Will DoJ Require of Google?

Google is now in the “remedies” phase of an antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, as Google has been found to be a mono...