AT&T and Leap Wireless have been working to get an acquisition deal approved by the FCC. That approval came this month and the deal was quickly finalized. The purchase of … Continue reading
After months of waiting, the FCC approved AT&T’s acquisition of Leap Wireless, which gave it the better known prepaid service Cricket Wireless. Soon after approval was given, AT&T announced the … Continue reading
AT&T revealed last July plans to acquire Leap Wireless, which would bring Cricket Wireless under its wing. In November, the company achieved stockholder approval, and earlier today received a thumbs-up … Continue reading
The major US telecoms delivered at minimum 1.1 million cell phone records to law enforcement at all levels of government in 2012. The records include voicemail and text content. The telecoms earned $26 million from the transactions. Many of the fulfilled information requests legally required no warrant, no subpoena, and no probable cause. These and […]
AT&T announced back in July they were moving forward to acquire Leap Wireless. This could bring Cricket Wireless under the AT&T wing and the purchase price was said to be more than $1 billion. Specifically, $1.19 billion. But while the plans were spelled out, that didn’t mean the deal was finalized. At the time a […]
AT&T has announced that it will be acquiring Leap Wireless for the hefty sum of about $1.19 billion, something that will bring the prepaid service Cricket under its ownership. The move still needs to be approved by regulators, but one source who spoke to The Wall Street Journal states that there are “pretty good” odds it will go through.
The announcement was made by AT&T today, with the carrier paying $15 per share for the company, more than double its current stock price of $7.98 per share. Leap Wireless is currently the sixth largest company in the industry, while AT&T holds position as fourth out of the four major U.S. carriers. Such a merge, as many have pointed out, will further centralize the wireless carriers in the country.
Leap Wireless currently has in excess of 5 million subscribers, all of which will be transitioned under AT&T’s wing if the merger goes through. As part of the acquisition, the buyer will be taking over Leap’s wireless spectrum, boosting its 4G rollout, as well as the carrier’s retail stores and its substantial $2.8 billion worth of debt.
In addition, AT&T will be retaining the Cricket name while giving those users access to its 4G network, as well as expanding service under Cricket to additional US markets. Overall, Leap will bring with it spectrum that covers approximately 137 million people in the US, which is said to be “largely complementary” to what it already has.
Such a move comes at a time when other carriers have been involved in various acquisitions, such as T-Mobile US taking over MetroPCS earlier this year, as well as SoftBank Corporation nabbing Sprint Nextel. Presently, AT&T has about 107 million subscribers.
SOURCE: Android Community
AT&T purchase of Leap Wireless brings Cricket under new ownership is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
No contract wireless carrier Cricket Wireless has announced that it has added a new Android smartphone to its lineup. The new smartphone is called the Engage LT and the device supports Cricket’s Muve Music service. The device is available for purchase right now and Cricket stores and online for $199.99.
The smartphone offers nice hardware for the money with a 1 GHz QUALCOMM Snapdragon processor. The smartphone also has 1 GB of RAM and features a four-inch display. The large touchscreen has WVGA resolution and the smartphone runs Android 4.0.
The Engage LT features a 3.2-megapixel rear camera that offers panoramic mode. The rear camera also has built-in flash and can record 480p resolution video. The smartphone supports the Cricket music service and allows users to listen to all the music they want and watch videos with some content exclusively available on Cricket music service.
The smartphone supports 3G data speeds and has integrated Bluetooth. The phone operates on Cricket all-inclusive rate plans starting at $50 for unlimited talk and text with up to 1 GB of data. A $60 plan offers up to 2.5 GB of data and $70 plan offers 5 GB of data per month. The two more expensive plans also allow the phone to be tethered other devices.
[via Cricket Wireless]
Cricket Wireless announces Engage LT smartphone is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Leap Wireless’ sales of the iPhone have significantly under-performed, despite expectations that a prepaid iPhone 5 would be in hot demand, with $100m-worth of unsold stock expected by June. Leap’s deal with Apple saw the iPhone 5 offered through Cricket Wireless at $500 with no ongoing commitment, but according to an 10-K SEC filing, the carrier predicts it will have only sold half of the expected units by the time the smartphone reaches its first birthday.
Leap signed a three year long purchase commitment with Apple back in May 2012, which came into effect when Cricket began selling phones the following month. That agreement basically means Leap must buy a certain, minimum amount of devices from Apple, even if it doesn’t necessarily sell that many.
“At our current purchase rate, we project that we will purchase approximately one-half of our first-year minimum purchase commitment through June 2013 … If Apple were to require us to meet the annual minimum commitment in each of the three years of the contract term, we estimate that we would be required to purchase approximately $100 million of additional iPhones in mid-2013 above our current purchase rate, approximately $150 million of additional iPhones in mid-2014 above our current purchase rate and approximately $200 million of additional iPhones in mid-2015 above our current purchase rate” Leap Wireless
Part of the problem, Leap suggests, is the limitations of its network coverage. Cricket service isn’t available to the same extent as that of AT&T and Verizon, which can mean potential customers either can’t buy the iPhone where they live, or choose another carrier because they may need to travel outside of Cricket’s network.
As the carrier points out, “if Apple introduces an AWS-compatible version of the iPhone in the future, we will be able to sell the device in additional markets covering approximately 40% of our covered POPs.” Nonetheless, Leap isn’t counting on that necessarily happening – or, indeed, Apple agreeing to renegotiate the purchase commitment – and so is considering other strategies.
They include more comprehensive device leasing or financing programs, which would spread the upfront cost of the iPhone 5 out over a more extended period, or even just changing the sticker price of the iPhone itself. The carrier also hopes to work with Apple to boost its promotional drive, to tackle the possibility that many people might not even consider Cricket in the first place.
Interestingly, while Leap’s COO says he is “not concerned about … meeting the Apple commitment,” attempting to reassure the market during a recent financial results call, he is also putting a big chunk of his faith in another device. “I would say there was a stronger device [than iPhone 5] in our lineup” Jerry Elliot told analysts last week, referring to Samsung’s Galaxy S III.
[via WSJ]
Cricket’s iPhone 5 play stumbles amid half the predicted demand is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Cricket, a carrier perhaps best known for its low cost prepaid plans, has released its 4G LTE smartphone, the LG Optimus Regard. While the phone is 4G-capable, it isn’t particularly high-end, so don’t get your hopes up. The Regard is available now, and is priced at $249, a fairly steep fee considering the low-end hardware you get.
The LG Optimus Regard is, aside from its 4G LTE support, unremarkable in any way. The display is a mere 3.5-inches with a resolution of 320 x 480. Inside you’ll find a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM. Around back there’s a 5-megapixel camera. The model offers 8GB of storage space and runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The battery is a decent 1,700mAh battery, which means, depending on how you use your phone, you might end up having to charge it partway through the day.
As for Cricket itself, the company is a regional carrier with a large customer base for its prepaid service. The company offers a lot of low-end smartphones, such as the ZTE Muvemusic, as well as a few higher ones. While the phone choices are limited to lower-end devices, those looking for a smartphone without spending a fortune on a contract or higher-end prepaid plan would do well to look into the company.
Although the Optimus Regard is decent for a casual every day user who spends more time browsing Facebook than running hardware-intensive games, the price tag is cringe-worthy in comparison to the specs. Because the handset is contract-free, you’re paying the unsubsidized price. Still, despite the relatively high price and low-end specs, if you’re in the market for a 4G plan without huge costs, the Cricket/Optimus Regard combo might be the right choice for you.
[via Android Community]
LG Optimus Regard is Cricket’s first 4G LTE smartphone is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Cricket Wireless has announced a new addition to its smartphone lineup HTC called the Desire C. The smartphone promises a premium design and good features at an affordable price. One of the key features is integrated Beats Audio technology for better music playback.
Better sound quality is an important feature since Cricket Wireless has muve Music included in many of its monthly rate plans. The smartphone runs Android 4.0 and the HTC Sense 4.0 user interface. The smartphone will connect to the Google Play store for apps of all sorts.
Other specifications of the smartphone include a 3.5-inch touchscreen display and a five-megapixel rear camera that can also record video. The phone includes 25 GB of free online storage space via Dropbox. The phone has a memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB microSD cars. It measures 4.8 x 2.4 x 0.5″ and has a 3.5 mm headphone port.
The phone has a 1230 mAh internal battery promising up to 370 minutes of talk time and up to 450 hours of standby. The smartphone supports Cricket services, including tethering, navigation, and lots more. The HTC Desire C is available for $179.99 right now and works on the company’s three smart phone service plans starting at $50 per month.
Cricket Wireless introduces HTC Desire C sans contract is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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