Leap CEO Hitcheson bullish on U.S. prepaid market

executives from Boost Mobile and MetroPCS say as much. Now it’s time for Cricket wireless’s CEO to get a crack at it. Marguerite Reardon of CNET sits down with Doug Hutcheson to see what he thinks of the current landscape. Hutcheson, as you might expect, gives plenty of stock answers. There’s nothing too provocative, but I do want to point to his take on the prepaid wireless industry in general.

The prepaid cell phone market is in its third or fourth phase of development right now in the U.S. And it’s at the same phase that the European market entered about five or six years ago. Prepaid really started to take off in Europe as wireless penetration started to reach 100 percent. And of course the economic realities of today are also a factor. For a number of people, prepaid wireless is the best value.

Of course, the U.S. is stuck at 90 percent penetration, but as a friend in the consulting industry once told me, it’s unlikely to get higher than that given the way this country is spread out. Wireless services just won’t reach some areas, a concern that’s growing, especially as it relates to broadband Internet. So, if this is the U.S. equivalent of 100 percent penetration, we’ll really get to see Hutcheson’s ideas put to the test. Another interesting answer from Hutcheson regards the new Boost Unlimited offering. When asked if Cricket is a threat to Boost, Hutcheson noted that it’s not the first time the two have been in direct competition.

In 2006, Boost launched rate plans that were almost on top of our rate plans when we were launching some new markets. We managed to work our way through that, and we did just fine. Interestingly enough, in 2008 and 2009 we have been launching more markets and Boost is there again. So there is a little bit of rhythm to it. But we think it will work its way in our favor again.

Hutcheson notes that Leap is about 75 percent done with its new market rollouts, and once its done will take a step back and focus on how to best serve those 100 million covered POPs. As always, give the whole interview a read. ]]>