NEW YORK — Sprint Nextel’s Virgin Mobile USA will roll out unlimited mobile-broadband prepaid packages for $40 a month, a sign the wireless industry will have a tough time abandoning unlimited data plans.
Virgin Mobile’s new pricing model contrasts with wireless giant AT&T’s recent switch from unlimited data plans on its Apple iPhone to metered plans for new customers. Some investors took AT&T’s move as a sign that data-plan pricing would firm up. Sprint’s move to offer unlimited wireless broadband dashes hopes since the precedent had been for capping data usage for such plans.
Virgin said that starting today, it will offer the $40 nationwide unlimited mobile-broadband plan, replacing its $20, $40 and $60 metered plans. The $20 plan offered 300 megabytes of data for use over 30 days, while the highest-price plan offered 5 gigabytes.
A Virgin spokeswoman said the company is adding the unlimited data plan as it notices a shift to customers using more broadband data. Virgin will continue to offer a plan that costs $10 for 10 days of metered access, which it markets to less frequent Internet users.
The service is primarily used on laptops, with customers accessing the data through mobile broadband devices, including a mobile hot spot that can connect up to five users. Dow Jones Newswires
