Can you hear the cash flow now?
Reuters reports that Cingular Wireless said it would start charging customers with older phones a $4.99 monthly fee unless they upgrade their TDMA and analog phones. Cingular, the largest wireless provider, said it has been working for years to move to a single network technology, GSM (Global System of Mobile Communications).
The company said the fee would apply to 4.7 million, or about 8 percent, of its customers. Let's see, about 5 million people times $5 per month...that should pay for a nice network upgrade. And any money not made on new fees will made on new phones.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, Verizon Wireless, the No. 2 U.S. mobile service provider, is rearranging its music download pricing.
Customers previously had no choice but to pay a flat $15 fee for monthly V Cast data services, plus a $1.99 per song charge. Now users can choose instead to pay for however many minutes it takes to download each song, instead of the flat fee.
Depending on the customer's plan, a song that takes 2 minutes to download could cost about 16 cents--plus the $1.99 for the song. Now it's your minutes or your money...though it's likely Verizon will get some of both.