Prepaid is about to pop off in a major way. After acquiring Leap Wireless, the parent company behind Cricket, earlier this year, AT&T has announced that it's relaunching Cricket and shutting down its own Aio prepaid service.
The decision is an attempt to grab a share of the growing prepaid market, as more and more customers turn away from expensive contract deals. Cricket will offer $40, $50, and $60 plans, featuring unlimited phone service and texting and, respectively, 500MB, 2.5GB, and 5GB of data. There are also various other saving options, including a $20 talk-and-text plan.
The migration is expected to take 18 months, with current Cricket customers needing to upgrade their devices to access AT&T's network.
"As you think about the new Cricket, think about it as keeping the Cricket name, but totally changing the game for customers," said Jennifer Van Buskirk, who is leading AT&T's Cricket venture.
[via CNET]
