With all the changes going on the wireless business, things are going to have to get shaken up if the major carriers want to continue competing. Sprint is one of those carriers that has made some pretty huge changes this year, swapping out their former CEO Dan Hesse for now current CEO Marcelo Claure, as well as laying of several employees and changing up their plans quite a bit. Subscribers are itching for something more along the lines of network improvement changes no doubt, but as Claure stated back after he became the new head of Sprint, they’re focusing on customer experiences and plans first. The latest news is suggesting that Sprint may be getting ready to lay off even more employees after the recently posted loss of earnings from Q2(Sprint’s second consecutive fiscal earnings loss)amounted to a total of $765 million.
While Sprint losing even more money and laying off an unknown number of employees is certainly worth noting, what is easily more intriguing is the possibility that Sprint may be looking to do away with phone subsidies beginning in 2015. T-mobile has pioneered the use of customer phone plans that allow for no subsidies on devices with no 2-year contracts as part of their Uncarrier initiative, and Sprint may be looking to follow in T-mobile’s footsteps. Perhaps this was part of Cluare’s plan all along or maybe this was a decision made based off of how things have gone since he took over. Nevertheless, Sprint phone plans with no 2-year contracts and no more phone subsidies could be a big thing for them. If we end up seeing these sorts of plans and customer phone prices come to fruition though, perhaps the question to ask is whether or not it will help.
The idea of a phone for a lower price has always been appealing to consumers, but if there is any indication that subscribers aren’t afraid to do away with the contracts in light of having to payer a higher phone premium, one need look no further then T-Mobile’s current setup. During an interview today, Sprint’s Chief Financial Officer Joe Euteneuer stated that they are considering cutting contracts and phone subsidies next year. Sprint has already revamped their plans to heavily compete with lower prices and larger amounts of data, moves all made in an attempt to disrupt the wireless industry. Claure apparently isn’t done shaking things up(We wonder what John Legere has to say about it all)and this could be a pivotal change for the U.S. third largest wireless carrier. They have already begun testing how the phone leasing would go if they were to fully implement the plan, with the ability for customers to pick up either an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 plus, Samsung Galaxy S5 and Samsung Galaxy S5 Sport for just $20 a month. Are you a Sprint subscriber? Would you like to see Sprint do away with contracts and phone subsidy pricing?