Verizon and AT&T have largely stayed aloof from the prepaid market, leaving the lower rent end of the mobile world to their smaller rivals. But the pay-as-you-go space has been growing, and AT&T is starting to pay it more than a cursory glance.
The company recently launched a prepaid sub-brand, Aio Wireless, and aims to turn it into a national rival to T-Mobile’s MetroPCS brand or Sprint’s Boost and Virgin. Both the major prepaid-only operators have been snapped up, MetroPCS by T-Mobile and now Leap by AT&T, indicating the consolidation of this sector as it becomes a game of scale. Aio has started to offer its services nationwide via its web site, after launching in select markets earlier this year, and has over 230 stores in Texas, Florida and Atlanta, which are operated by independent dealers.
The national push behind Aio coincides with the purchase of Leap Wireless, whose main motivation was seen to be additional spectrum. However, AT&T may also use the acquisition to expand in new user bases. Once the deal is complete in the first half of next year, AT&T says it plans to keep Leap’s Cricket brand and offer its customers access to its main network.
“Leap will turbocharge our move into no-contract service,” Aio president Jennifer Van Buskirk told the Dallas Morning News.
AT&T has another prepaid brand, GoPhone, but Aio has a wider range of devices and tariffs ranging from $40 a month to $70 a month for unlimited voice and text, and between 250Mbytes and 7Gbytes of data, including LTE.
“Our mission is to become a big, nationwide player as fast as we can,” Van Buskirk added, claiming there was definitely the potential to be as big as MetroPCS.
T-Mobile has three prepaid brands ‘ its own ‘Simple Choice’plans, MetroPCS and GoSmart Mobile.