In all the talk about the Sprint-Nextel (T-mobile? Verizon?) merger, very few of the articles have talked about what Sprint does well (Nextel’s strength – the NASCAR segment – is well documented.) It turns out that Sprint’s strength is a vaguely sad. Sprint is good at renting out spare capacity on its network to other companies.
Mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) are mobile carriers
that don’t own a network. They use
someone else’s network, usually Sprint’s, and just focus on marketing. It’s a brilliant idea since it enables niche
marketing of cellular services. For
example, Boost and Virgin Mobile, both of whom focus on getting teenagers
hooked at an early age, are MVNOs that use Sprint’s network.
So I’m in Vero Beach, Florida for the Holidays with my
family at my grandparents’ place. In
terms of telecommunications infrastructure, all I’ve seen is one of those
land-line phones from Radio Shack with the HUGE buttons on them. I can see what number they are dialing from
across the room. Without my glasses.
The rest of my family would love for the 90 year old
grandparents to have a cell phone. It
would make all of us feel safer since none of us live in Florida, and since,
well, they’re 90.
Phones:
- completely stripped of fancy features (no Java apps, no
games, no ringtones, no camera, maybe even no phone book…)
- HUGE buttons with that “HP calculator feel” so you know
you press them (that patent must have expired by now…)
- maybe even an “on” button that gives you a dial tone (a
fake one, like some VoIP providers)
- an analog dial on the side for volume adjustment (make the
max volume LOUD)
- long battery life and a simple cradle for recharging
Service:
- prepaid (eliminates overage surprises)
- ultra simple plans and marketing (i.e. explain that there
is no such thing as long distance charges anymore.)
On one hand, seniors have low monthly usage. But on the other hand, if you can get them a handset they like and a plan they understand, churn would be almost zero.
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