Skydeck Blog - Latest Comments in Prepaid Rules

Re: Prepaid Rules

tracfone — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 17:45:07 -0000

I agree with you that low price is not a long term biz model, but the targeting of specific niches also proved unsuccessful. Hence ESPN mnvo and Disney mvno both failed. I do think however that the elderly niche could still do well. They mainly need simple to use phones without the frills.

Re: Prepaid Rules

ES — Tue, 15 May 2007 11:23:29 -0000

However competing purely on price is not a long term business model especially as the price of voice and text messaging continually declines. In addition the potential introduction of flat rate tariffs will put further pressure on these 'no-frills' MVNOs. Those that target specific niches such as ethnic groups, sports fans, elderly ...etc and can build a strong loyal customer base should have a better chance of survival in the long term.

Re: Prepaid Rules

Matthew Stecker — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:01:34 -0000

We're seeing a squeeze from *both* ends. The largest MVNOs have had their well publicized issues, but even the smaller guys who peddle vanilla prepaid to market segments not traditionally touched by the carriers are having problems. Cheif among these is the fact that the carriers themselves are creating prepaid offerings that compete directly with their MVNOs. Cingular's GoPhone, for example, has grown substantially at the direct expense of vanilla Cingular resellers.