United States Prepaid Wireless Market by Technology, Applications and Services 2024 – 2030
This report evaluates the prepaid wireless market in the United States including major provider analysis and service assessment, technologies involved in prepaid service delivery, and assessment of the future of prepaid communications, content, and commerce. The report includes an analysis of the 5G impact.
The report also analyzes major MVNO companies and offerings. The report also provides a view into the future of prepaid wireless and market forecasts through 2030 including subscribers and Revenue by Voice vs. Data vs. VAS and by Connectivity Type.
Prepaid wireless service providers in the United States have become increasingly competitive in recent years as they evolve offerings to be more on par with post-paid service features and plans. For example, Verizon Wireless now offers prepaid family plans, unlimited plans, and support for BYOD whereas this was not the case just a few years ago.
We anticipate the continued evolution of prepaid wireless in general as part of a dominant trend towards prepaying mobile services becoming increasingly more comparable with post-paid wireless. This is evidenced by Verizon's recent acquisition of TracFone, which we believe it will maintain as an entry-level prepaid offering while the company differentiates its core prepaid wireless service.
The future of prepaid wireless communications will depend on more than just carrier-centric applications, communications, content, and commerce. For example, we see prepaid as an important aspect of many next-generation services that are provided by a variety of third-party service companies that do not wish to offer a postpaid option as it would typically rely upon wireless carrier billing via prepay.
Growth in prepaid wireless service will also depend on the extent to which next-generation services, such as virtual reality, are generally supported on a pre-pay basis. This is to say that prepaid customers must have access to wireless data plans that put them on par with postpaid in terms of both bandwidth and low latency required for acceptable end-user quality of experience.
While many emerging applications will be offered by Over-the-Top (OTT) service providers, we strongly recommend that MNOs offer their own branded/controlled Value-added Service (VAS) applications. The OTT application business model has caused data payload (e.g. apps that use data) to become increasingly more valuable to consumers than data itself, which is rapidly becoming a marginalized commodity. With this development, VAS applications have become much more important to network operators.
With the ever-increasing commoditization of carrier core services (mostly voice and messaging), there will be a growing dependence on VAS applications for initially top-line revenue growth (as data growth tapers off and margins are squeezed) and then for margin growth as bearer services become a cost-plus commodity. Prepaid wireless service providers must also provide their own VAS apps to remain competitive, even if it requires them to offer those apps on an OTT basis themselves.
Companies in Report:
- 1 Executive Summary
- 2 Introduction
- 3 United States Communication Service Providers
- 3.1. Wireless Carrier Offerings
- 3.1.1 Prepaid and Postpaid Wireless Market Overview
- 3.1.2 Prepaid and Postpaid Market Strategy
- 3.1.3 Prepaid Technology Approaches
- 3.1.4 Prepaid Wireless Technology
- 3.1.5 Prepaid Market Outlook
- 3.2 USA Prepaid Wireless Market Handset Providers
- 3.3 Drivers and Challenges for Growth in the USA Wireless Prepaid Services
- 3.3.1 Prepaid Drivers
- 3.3.2 Prepaid Challenges
- 3.4 Other Factors and Outlook
- 4 United States Prepaid Wireless Service Provider Analysis
- 4.1 AT&T
- 4.1.1 Plans
- 4.1.2 Feature Analysis
- 4.1.3 SWOT Analysis
- 4.1.4 AT&T MVNO Companies
- 4.2 T-Mobile
- 4.2.1 Overview
- 4.2.2 Feature Analysis
- 4.2.3 SWOT Analysis
- 4.2.4 T-Mobile MVNO Companies
- 4.3 US Cellular
- 4.3.1 Overview
- 4.3.2 Plans
- 4.3.3 Feature Analysis
- 4.3.4 SWOT Analysis
- 4.4 Verizon
- 4.4.1 Overview
- 4.4.2 Plans
- 4.4.3 Feature Analysis
- 4.3.4 SWOT Analysis
- 4.4.5 Verizon MVNO Companies
- 4.5 Comparative Analysis of Wireless Prepaid Plans
- 4.6 Prepaid Wireless Industry Consolidation
- 5 Sprint and T-Mobile Merger Impact on Prepaid Wireless
- 5.1.1 Impact on the USA Carrier Ecosystem as a Whole
- 5.1.2 Impact on Mobile Virtual Network Operators
- 5.1.3 Impact on Prepaid Subsidiaries: Boost, Metro PCS, and Virgin Mobile
- 6 Mobile Virtual Network Operators
- 6.1 Overview
- 6.2 MVNOs Leverage MNO Assets
- 6.3 MVNOs Leverage MVNE Infrastructure and Services
- 6.4 MVNO Strategies
- 6.5 MVNO Differentiation
- 6.6 Prepaid vs. Postpaid Offerings
- 6.7 Plan Overview and Analysis
- 6.8 Select MVNO Case Study Analysis
- 6.8.1 Airlink Mobile (DS Mobile)
- 6.8.2 Airvoice Wireless
- 6.8.3 JOLT Mobile
- 6.8.4 Boost Mobile
- 6.8.5 Consumer Cellular
- 6.8.6 GreatCall
- 6.8.7 kajeet
- 6.8.8 Liberty Wireless
- 6.8.9 H2O Wireless (Locus Telecommunications)
- 6.8.10 Virgin Mobile USA
- 6.8.11 Cricket (AT&T)
- 6.8.12 Wal-Mart
- 6.8.13 Page Plus
- 7 USA Prepaid Wireless Forecasts 2024 – 2030
- 7.1 Wireless Prepaid Subscriber Forecast by Connectivity Type 2024 – 2030
- 7.2 Prepaid Wireless Revenue Forecast by Type, and Connectivity 2024 – 2030
- 7.3 Monthly ARPU Forecast 2024 – 2030
- 7.4 Prepaid Wireless Service Provider Market Share 2024 – 2030
- 8 Future of Prepaid Wireless: Value-added Services
- 8.1 Real-time Communications: RCS and WebRTC
- 8.2 Prepaid and Stored Value in Mobile Commerce
- 8.3 BYOD and Prepaid
- 8.4 Prepaid and Payments
- 8.5 Prepaid and Wearables
- 8.6 Prepaid and the Smart Workplace
- 8.7 Prepaid and Virtual Reality
- 8.8 Prepaid and Public Safety
- 8.9 Prepaid and Internet of Things (IoT)
- 8.10 Offer Strategies for Value Added Services
- 8.10.1 Subscription
- 8.10.2 Per-use Services
- 8.10.3 Data
- 8.10.4 Messaging
- 8.10.5 On-demand Service
- 8.10.6 Up-selling from On-demand to Subscription
- 9 Porter's Five Forces of Prepaid Wireless in the United States
- 10 COVID-19 Impact on Prepaid Wireless in the United States
- 10.1 Did Covid-19 lift the Prepaid Market in the United States?
- 10.2 Initiatives and Steps taken by Key Players
- 10.2.1 Verizon
- 10.2.2 T-Mobile (now including Sprint)
- 10.2.3 AT&T
- 10.3 Headwinds for the US Prepaid Wireless Market
- 11 Conclusions and Recommendations
- 12 Appendix: MVNO Strategies
- 12.1 MVNO Types
- 12.1.1 Full MVNO
- 12.1.2 Service Provider
- 12.1.3 ESP: Enhanced Service Provider (Hybrid MVNO)
- 12.1.4 Branded Reseller
- 12.2 MVNO Models
- 12.2.1 Discount MVNOs
- 12.2.2 Lifestyle/Niche MVNOs
- 12.2.3 Media/Entertainment MVNOs
- 12.2.4 Ethnic MVNOs
- 12.2.5 Business MVNOs
- 12.2.6 Brand MVNOs
- 12.2.7 Data MVNOs
- 12.2.8 M2M/Telemetry MVNOs
- 12.2.9 Quad Play MVNOs
- 12.2.10 Roaming MVNOs
- 12.3 Additional Case Study Analysis of USA MVNO Companies
- 12.3.1 CellNUVO
- 12.3.2 Cellular Abroad
- 12.3.3 AirVoice Wireless
- 12.3.4 Airlink Mobile
- 12.3.5 Jasper Wireless (Cisco)
- 12.3.6 ZingPCs
- 12.3.7 Boost Mobile
- 12.3.8 Disney Mobile
- 12.3.9 ZIP SIM
- 12.3.10 Bratz Mobile
- 12.3.11 Consumer Cellular
- 12.3.12 CREDO Mobile
- 12.3.13 DBS Communications
- 12.3.14 Defense Mobile
- 12.3.15 Freedom-Wireless
- 12.3.16 GreatCall
- 12.3.17 Kajeet
- 12.3.18 KORE Wireless
- 12.3.19 Liberty Wireless
- 12.3.20 MetroPCS
- 12.3.21 Lycamobile
- 12.3.22 PixWireless
- 12.3.23 National Geographic
- 12.3.24 NET10
- 12.3.25 Nextel Partners
- 12.3.26 Page Plus
- 12.3.27 Payless Cellular
- 12.3.28 PlatinumTel Communications
- 12.3.29 Google Fi
- 12.3.30 Red Pocket Mobile
- 12.3.31Ting
- 12.3.32 Total Call Mobile
- 12.3.33 Tracfone Wireless
- 12.3.34 Virgin Mobile USA
- 12.3.35 Cricket Wireless
- 12.3.36 H2O Wireless
- 12.3.37 RingPlus
- 12.3.38 PureTalk
- 13.0 Appendix: 5G Technology, Infrastructure, and Services
- 13.1 5G Technology
- 13.2 5G and Core Network Infrastructure
- 13.2.1 5G and Edge Computing
- 13.2.2 5G and Network Slicing
- 13.3 5G and Radio Network Infrastructure
- 13.4 5G Capabilities
- 13.5 5G and Ultra-High-Definition Voice Service
- 13.6 5G and Non-voice Applications and Services
- 13.7 5G Impact on Public Safety Services
- 13.8 5G Impact on the Internet of Things
- 13.9 5G Impact on Automation, Robotics, and the Industrial Sector
- 13.10 5G Impact on Business Services
- 13.11 5G and Fixed Wireless
- 13.12 5G and Indoor Wireless
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