COMET News - August 2014
Did T-Mobile cram customers?
T-Mobile is under investigation for allegedly bilking customers out of millions of dollars with puffed-up charges prior to becoming the “Un-carrier.” The FCC and the FTC have joined forces to put T-mobile under the microscope for “cramming,” or adding unauthorized, high-cost, third-party charges to customers’ bills. The investigation stems from numerous complaints filed by customers with both agencies.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere responded with his notorious bravado, claiming the investigation was the result of “Washington politics and the big carrier lobbyists at their best.”
Legere went on to say that these types of charges were commonplace in the industry, and that his company has since eliminated them as part of their Un-carrier revolution.
“It is true, that back in 2009 thru 2013, all of the big carriers in the wireless industry, including T-Mobile, began carrying what became known as the Premium SMS service,” wrote Legere. “We were all billing for these services on behalf of the content providers who were responsible for obtaining the customers’ authorizations. As we all know now, there were some fraudsters in that bunch. That is why, as we found them, we terminated them and, ultimately, made the decision in November 2013, as did all four of the wireless companies, to eliminate this from our service offerings.”
Is Legere correct, and is this just an attempt by competitors to give T-Mobile a black eye, or was T-Mobile more guilty than the rest? Cramming bills is certainly not "Un-carrier" behavior, so it will be interesting to see how Legere and company respond to the allegations, and even more interesting if they are proven true.
Premium content hits prepaid segment
Why should postpaid customers have all the fun when it comes to modern mobile gaming? Based on the sheer size and growth potential of the mobile gaming market, that's a question many have asked (including Pipeline). The nature of a prepaid customer account, however, makes offering upsell premium content tricky. PlayPhone, Inc., a global leader in mobile social gaming, believes it has the answer, and it's bringing its proven solution to customers in the United States.
Sprint has signed on to integrate PlayPhone’s mobile gaming platform into the prepaid customer base at Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA. This is the first time prepaid customers in the U.S. will have real-time access the premium gaming content, and the first time Sprint has engaged in such a program with a third-party company.
The collaboration gives prepaid subscriber the ability to purchase premium game content and in-app products as a flat-rate add-on to their phone plans. This eliminates the friction customers and CSPs face in the prepaid segment; customers will no longer have to worry about incremental charges or having to enter credit card details.
The platform will be available to customers later this summer, according to PlayPhone.
"PlayPhone’s mobile gaming solution allows our brands to further evolve the customer experience by allowing them to engage with content in a more simplified way,” said Doug Smith, Director, Product Marketing Integration for the Sprint Prepaid Group. “Prepaid is a growing market segment, and we’re always looking for ways to enrich our customers’ mobile experience.”
According to a recent mobile trends report from Brightstar, no-contract phone offerings currently account for 37 percent market share. Brightstar projects this segment will grow to 50 percent by the end of 2015.
“The Sprint collaboration marks the first time game developers are gaining access to the lucrative prepaid market,” said Anders Evju, CMO of PlayPhone. “This is a significant opportunity to reach a major mobile segment that not even our largest competing game stores have access to.”
