Sprint has today launched a new business plan called “Mobility-as-a-Service,” or MaaS, designed as a comprehensive and cost-effective solution for businesses that simplifies how the service works and provides 24 hour, 365 days a year dedicated customer support. The MaaS service is offered at one consistent price per employee. To start with MaaS, an employee picks a device (which can be a smartphone, tablet or mobile broadband hotspot), data plan and service team. Prices start from as low as $20 a month for businesses with at least fifteen lines of service, although on-site setup is only provided for customers with twenty five lines or more. Sprint provides the device, basic configuration (this includes pre-loading business applications) and of course the customer support, which has two tiers – standard and VIP (which is designed for executives). MaaS is designed to be somewhat opposite to the current trend of enterprise customers exploring Bring Your Own Devices, or BYOD, by keeping things simple. It also gives control of the wireless use back to the business.
The MaaS tariff allows for devices to be refreshed every twelve or twenty four months. All plans come with unlimited airtime minutes and text messages and the variable is the data allowance, which partially determines the cost of the plan. The other aspect of the plan cost is the device. Data options are available from 100 MB up to 5 GB if metered, or an unlimited option for smartphones and “premium devices” for between $65 to $75 a month. The MaaS service comes with a report system to monitor data usage and Sprint are working on cloud storage and anti-virus functionality to the offering; there is no timescale for when these upgrades will be available or if there will be any additional charges involved.
Sprint’s MaaS offering is available with both Sprint International Value Roaming and International Speed Data Roaming Passes, which are designed to simplify the sometimes convoluted international roaming charges and tiers. Sprint International Value Roaming allows customers to data roam at 2G speeds at no additional charge, which is fine for email and navigation, but cumbersome for web browsing unless it is a quick Google search. Voice calls from many countries is also pegged at 20 cents a minute.