AT&T released a new $45 prepaid offer at Walmart that includes what they’re pitching as unlimited talk and text, as well as unlimited data with 5G.
It’s effectively a $5/month price cut over the $50 plan that was being offered, said Wave7 Research principal Jeff Moore. He's been watching for any subtleties in the prepaid market as a result of Verizon’s closure of the TracFone acquisition last year. TracFone’s Straight Talk brand has been sold exclusively at Walmart.
“There were concerns about Verizon domination of prepaid wireless sales at Walmart, but this price cut, combined with the entry of Metro by T-Mobile at the channel, shows that prepaid competition is alive and well at Walmart,” he told Fierce.
According to an AT&T spokesperson, AT&T Prepaid is “always evaluating pricing and offers so we can deliver great service at low prices to our customers.”
As The Verge pointed out, the new Unlimited Max $45 prepaid plan with 5G is only available at Walmart and it includes HD streaming, which several other prepaid plans at other providers do not offer. AT&T also is selling other prepaid plans at a discount if activated at Walmart stores.
Walmart vs. Target
Wave7 Research has noticed a lot more mobile phone action in general at Walmart. “There’s just a lot of movement at Walmart these days,” Moore said, noting that recent developments are making the mobile department at Target look like it’s becoming a “ghost town” by comparison.
Fierce didn’t immediately hear back from Target for comment on its mobile phone sales strategy.
Best MVNO reported in early January that Consumer Cellular could be headed to Walmart stores; it’s already being sold online at Walmart.com. A Consumer Cellular spokesperson didn’t respond for comment.
If that were to happen, Consumer Cellular’s “match made in heaven” at Target stores could change, according to Moore. Target’s younger sales associates were there to help the older demographic of Consumer Cellular when they visited the stores, but without dedicated sales teams on that effort, it’s quite possible that segment will shift their shopping patterns to Walmart.
RELATED: Consumer Cellular taking over Verizon space in 1,500 Target stores
As for AT&T, Wave7 observed that it has been giving the prepaid category less attention for a number of months, preferring to focus more on broadband and TV-related services within its stores.
Cricket Wireless, AT&T’s other prepaid brand, is another story, and “they’re giving Cricket 27 different kinds of love,” whether it’s recruiting dealers or running advertising, he said. “Cricket is continuing to get plenty of love from AT&T.”
AT&T & Mario Lopez
Last year, it was looking as though AT&T had enlisted actor and TV personality Mario Lopez to promote its prepaid service just through the holidays.
RELATED: AT&T enlists Mario Lopez, Cricket 2.0 to jazz up prepaid
But AT&T said it’s working with Lopez until June. The current ad campaign with him features Walmart-only offers, with the goal of driving consumers to Walmart stores. It’s not clear if the relationship will go beyond June.