Cricket takes value-driven plans nationwide

Making good on its fourth-quarter promise to increase value without cutting prices, Leap Wireless (NASDAQ: LEAP) subsidiary Cricket Communications launched new value-driven nationwide unlimited plans that eliminate roaming fees and include unlimited calling in the top 125 U.S. cities.

The updated plans (see chart below) start at $30 and include unlimited talk, text, picture and video messaging, mobile Web, video and 411 capabilities. Those consumers subscribing to plans at $40 or more also have the option of adding $15 for unlimited international long distance calls to landlines in Mexico and other cities spanning 100 countries. Cricket promised an expanded handset line-up to come too, including a BlackBerry and Android driven device.

Nationwide coverage has been an important goal of the traditional regional CDMA provider. It has been working to expand its own CDMA network, and also expanded its roaming agreement with Sprint, effectively increasing its coverage area from 194 million subscribers to 277 million.

Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett, who has been following the trends in prepaid, praised Cricket’s move, noting that it is the first time since January 2009 there’s been a new prepaid pricing plan that isn'tjust a price cut. The new Leap plans are focused on features – namely nationwide coverage – not price cuts, he said. And nationwide coverage will certainly be an important feature for Cricket in its quest to attract new customers.

“We believe the new plans hint at continued robust demand for Leap's Cricket service, making a more aggressive pricing move unnecessary,” Moffett wrote in a research note. “More broadly, we believe this development could also be an early sign that pre-paid pricing is beginning to stabilize (although Sprint – which hinted in recent investor conferences that their prepaid business has ‘lost momentum,’ may feel greater pressure and remains the wild card).”