Tracfone subscriber numbers slide
July 29, 2011/
Tracfone, made a splash by adding 780,000 subscribers. That’s a huge number for an MVNO, but they do have two other arms, Net10 and Straight Talk, to help bulk up the numbers. In the second quarter they didn’t fare as well, adding just 236,000 subscribers, a number that didn’t even match its second quarter 2010 results. Churn is up a bit, which helps explain the lower numbers. With political talk re-focused on the economy, we could perhaps see Tracfone pick up stronger numbers in the third, quarter, which is typically slow in the wireless world. Via FierceWireless.]]>
Posted in Tracfone
I thought both the second and the third quarters were traditionally slow for the wireless market. Regardless, here’s my theory as to why Tracfone didn’t fare so well: In the previous quarter they had massive growth due to their Straight talk brand offering smart phones to use the unlimited plan with, they could only but grow exponentially. Because all their smart phones make use of AT&T’s already pressured network, AT&T might have had a word to say, slow down with the smart phone sales – which is why you will find it very hard finding a straight talk smart phone right now. This is of course hopefully all pending the outcome of the ATTTM merger, which will then allow AT&T more spectrum to their their resellers. Until then, Tracfone’s figures might not do as well as you surmise.
Does StraightTalk and Tracfone have the same service area or does StraightTalk and AT&T have the same service area?