Telecom Lead U.S: Sprint Global Wholesale & Emerging Solutions has unveiled Mobile Broadband on Demand for companies in the international, retail, travel, and hospitality industries.
The new solution helps these customers sell or rent mobile broadband devices such as hotspots, aircards and tablets, on Sprint’s trusted 3G and 4G (WiMAX) networks.
The service opens new revenue generation opportunities for these businesses while also helping them improve customer experience through advanced communications capabilities. The new turnkey product does not require the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) to have previous wireless experience or wireless support systems to launch this service.
After customers buy or rent a mobile broadband device, they are directed to an MVNO-branded Web portal where they can enroll for service online, using one of several payment options to purchase a no-contract data plan. The data plans are chosen by the MVNO and can be limited by the number of days or the amount of data used.
“All over the world, Internet users continue to demand more data products and services,” said Ben Vos, vice president, Wholesale Operations, Sprint. “We provide this turnkey mobile broadband solution to enable our MVNOs to easily extend their brand to the mobile data space while driving incremental revenue. It is a true mobile broadband experience.”
The MVNO can also make access to its commercial website free to the customer, provide sponsored browsing, or create specialty plan types such as social media and premium access. When customers run out of time or data, they are re-directed back to the Web portal to purchase more service. A downloadable data meter mobile application also enables subscribers to track real- time data usage and receive alerts.
As this is a rental model, there are no device costs for the end-user, and the data on mobile hotspots is sharable for up to five concurrent devices. End-users can also earn loyalty rewards. There is also an administration Web portal for the MVNO to easily manage the devices.
In the purchase model, mobile broadband devices are sold to end-users through hyper-marts, grocery store chains, home improvement stores, consumer electronics, big box chains, online, or anywhere the end-user would want to purchase the broadband device. Retailers can tie in their loyalty programs so customers can also earn points with usage.
Sprint StarStar Me lets consumers use name instead of mobile numbers
Sprint also just launched an innovative service, called StarStar Me that lets customers use a name they choose in place of their mobile telephone number. StarStar Me allows consumers to choose a name, nickname or unique word in place of their mobile phone number.
