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An Embee user once said, “Who doesn’t like free minutes!” We get just as excited about blowout numbers, which is exactly what the US prepaid wireless enjoyed during 1Q 2010.
According to Deutsche Bank, over 90% of US wireless net adds for 1Q 2010 were prepaid subscribers, and they predict 70% of all 2010 net adds will be prepaid. Roughly 3 of every 4 adds for AT&T and Verizon were prepaid, and 80% of Verizon’s combined 1.5 million net adds came from resellers like Straight Talk and Page Plus. Total US prepaid subs stands at over 60 million!
Analysts cite improved coverage, better pricing and no contract, and cooler phones as the big drivers. (Or maybe it’s just Tech & Talk!) (Seriously, fierce competition via increased marketing is a major factor, too. Our guess is T&T might have had something to do with MetroPCS beating estimates by 2x.)
Either way, numbers don’t lie. This DB chart shows a clear shift towards value, supporting what we’ve said all along – prepaid is the way to go!
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