Just how far-reaching is Boost's unlimited plan?

Boost’s new unlimited plan, stocks of other flat-rate carriers, MetroPCS and Cricket, took a bit of a dive. Earlier this week, Eric Savitz of Barron’s wondered what the real impact of Boost’s new service would be. He notes a couple of analysts with differing opinions, one cutting his rating on MetroPCS, the other upping his rating on Leap. However, it probably goes a bit deeper than that. Savitz notes that William Power, analyst at Robert W. Baird, “contends Leap and Metro PCS have competed effectively with past Boost offers.” Yes, but the previous incarnation of Boost Unlimited was not a nationwide service. Instead it was regional, just like Leap and Metro. This time around, though, Boost has gone nationwide, and that’s going to be their main advantage going forward. Yesterday afternoon, we heard speculation that the Leap – Metro merger talks could resume later this year. Obviously. This has been a hot topic for years now, and of course people are going to speculate on it when a big new competitor hits the market.

“Bringing these two together, you could cause a lot of distraction from the four other national guys,” Wachovia Capital Markets analyst Jennifer Fritzsche said. “You’re talking about almost a three-quarters of a national player at this point, with a much, much lower cost structure.”

That’s always been the selling point, though. Now that they have a roaming agreement in place, though, I’m not so sure that the merger has gained any urgency. Oh, and just to top this off with more Boost news, they’re officially moving away from CDMA. ]]>