T-Mobile US today announced free international roaming to its Simple Choice plan users — postpaid and prepaid – in Canada and Mexico.
The new wireless pricing package from T-Mobile US will pose challenges to AT&T. Through the recent acquisitions of Lusacell and Nextel Mexico, AT&T is keen to dominate the telecom markets in Mexico as well.
Calls to mobile phones and landlines in Canada and Mexico and roaming within them are included in T-Mobile Simple Choice plans at no additional cost. Moreover, LTE data use within Canada or Mexico will be deducted from a user’s existing Simple Choice data bucket.
Lynnette Luna, principal analyst at Current Analysis, said: “Canadian and Mexican calling plans have increasingly become a competitive focal point for postpaid and prepaid carriers during the last year.”
T-Mobile CEO John Legere termed the move as Mobile Without Borders. He says AT&T and Verizon jack up the price for data 120x or more. T-Mobile is expecting huge demand for T-Mobile schemes because 35 percent of all international calls and 55 percent of all international travel from the US is to Mexico and Canada.
“Rivals, especially AT&T, should respond. T-Mobile beats AT&T to the punch by extending its footprint into Mexico. Through its acquisitions of Lusacell and Nextel Mexico, AT&T has been planning a single, contiguous US-Mexico mobile service area,” Lynnette Luna said.
International roaming and calling has been a significant revenue generator for all carriers, but T-Mobile is ushering in a new paradigm. T-Mobile has negotiated competitive roaming rates for both voice and data with the top two carriers in both Canada and Mexico.
“We will see Canadian and Mexican carriers now develop reciprocal offers with roaming on T-Mobile’s network,” Lynnette Luna said.
Lynnette Luna says T-Mobile should generate additional interest from the Hispanic community consumer travelers and business customers that have North American operations and are looking to cut roaming costs and gain more cost certainty around their international wireless usage.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com
