Sprint Nextel today rolled out a new voice plan that allow subscribers to make unlimited calls to any other mobile phone.
The Sprint Any Mobile plan, starting at $69.99 per month, gives subscribers the ability to call any mobile number, with the other caller's wireless provider irrelevant. Sprint also is including unlimited text and data -- as part of the "Everything Data" plan -- and includes 450 minutes for calls to U.S. landlines.
Sprint's "Simply Everything" plan features the same benefits but costs $99 per month.
Sprint and other wireless providers are clearly beginning to focus more on getting people to subscribe to data and texting plans -- voice plans have continued to lower in price, which has cut into revenue.
Competing companies, including Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile, are not expected to try and match Sprint's latest pricing scheme any time soon. Although Sprint has had its troubles as of late, the other companies don't have a reason to lower prices..
The slumping voice revenue will ensure providers continue to focus on persuading -- and sometimes pressuring -- subscribers to sign up for data and texting plans.
Sprint has been forced to deal with declining revenue and fleeing subscribers -- and it has led to lower prices for subscribers. In addition, the company also has lowered the price of many of its premier handsets, which also is aimed at trying to steal subscribers away from the top three wireless providers.
In a couple months time, I'll be interested to see the number of subscribers who chose the Sprint Any Mobile plan. The company has cheaper voice/data plans and a decent selection of phones, yet it still is expected to lose thousands of subscribers in the next several quarters.
