The fourth largest U.S. mobile operator T-Mobile USA is all set to offer an unlimited data service option to its customers beginning September 5, 2012. We believe the company is targeting heavy data customers who prefer data options without any cap or throttling.
The new uncapped data offering is $20 more than its existing unlimited voice, text and limited data plan and will cost its customers $69.99 per month. This unlimited data plan is $5 cheaper than the company’s traditional plan, which limits data speed after 5GB of data usage. However, one of the drawbacks of the offer is that the plan is only meant for smartphones and doesn’t connect tablets, laptops or desktops.
Rivals Verizon Communication Inc. (VZ) and AT&T Inc. (T) do not offer unlimited data plans to its customers and of late have moved to shared data plans, which allow users to share a pool of data across multiple devices. Both Verizon and AT&T’s plans are costly and are restricted to a certain amount of data usage. On the contrary, T-Mobile’s new plan will offer uncapped web surfing and a downloading option over T- Mobile’s HSPA+ network, and won't restrict the speed limits at any point of time.
T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telecom, has been grappling with customer loss to both bigger and smaller rivals in the last few quarters. Additionally, T-Mobile is one of the few national carriers that doesn’t offer the iPhone through its network. We believe this effort will help the company to pull customers from bigger rivals such as Sprint-Nextel Corp. (S), which offers an unlimited data plan through their limited 4G coverage. However, the company could face competition from smaller rival MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS), which has recently introduced a similar no strings attached unlimited plan for $55 a month.
METROPCS COMMUN (PCS): Free Stock Analysis Report
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VERIZON COMM (VZ): Free Stock Analysis Report
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