Although most UK mobile networks are reporting around half of their customers use ‘pay as you go’ mobile phones, the figures are still substantially smaller in the USA. However, the number of US prepay subscribers is increasing.
The New Millennium Research Council think-tank reports that the total number of prepaid ‘no-contract’ mobile subscriptions in the US will account for one out of four mobile subscriptions by the end of this year. Last year, around three out of five new mobile subscriptions were for prepaid service, resulting in more than eight million new prepaid subscriptions versus just under 4.8 million new ‘pay monthly’ subscriptions.
Sam Simon, senior fellow at the New Millennium Research Council, said “NMRC was 100 percent on the money in forecasting that 2010 would be the year of prepaid wireless service. It now looks like 2011 will be an even bigger year for no-contract wireless as more and more consumers realize the extent to which they can save hundreds of dollars each year with unlimited prepaid service while also avoiding the needless entanglements of restrictive contract-based cell phone service. This penny pinching will go on even as others are attracted to prepaid by unlimited plans and for connected devices.”