Dish Network announced the appointment of Stephen Stokols to head its Boost Mobile prepaid wireless phone brand.
Dish Network said Stephen Stokols will be responsible for sales, marketing, go-to-market strategy and operations of the Boost business. Boost Mobile has nine million mobile phone customers on the new T-Mobile network.
Stephen Stokols previously founded prepaid brand FreedomPop. Prior to founding FreedomPop, Stephen Stokols served as VP at British Telecom (BT), where he helped drive over $1 billion in new revenues.
Stephen Stokols said that Boost has the potential to be as disruptive as U.S. carrier T-Mobile US. Deutsche Telecom-owned T-Mobile developed a reputation for shaking up the industry by setting precedents such as ending the traditional two-year phone contract, Reuters reported.
Dish, a satellite television and internet provider, purchased Boost Mobile in April for $1.4 billion as part of the merger between wireless carriers T-Mobile and Sprint, which owned Boost.
While most U.S. wireless customers pay recurring phone bills at the end of the month on postpaid plans, prepaid users pay for phone service upfront. The plans often appeal to lower-income customers as they do not require a credit check.
Boost aims to expand its digital operations to sell more of its phone plans online, Stokols said. Currently, Boost primarily sells plans at its large number of stores across the country.
The wireless industry has increasingly focused on selling phone plans with unlimited talk, text and data, but some wireless customers use small amounts of data on their smartphones.
“If you look at the data for users, most use under five gigabytes a month. There’s a huge opportunity to deliver value by offering plan flexibility that addresses that,” Stokols said, declining to offer specifics.
Last week, Verizon Communications bought Tracfone, the largest prepaid brand in the United States, for $6.25 billion. Verizon Communications is the #1 wireless operator in the United States — ahead of T-Mobile and AT&T.
