Sprint on discount tear, cuts access fee to $15 on some plans

Sprint isn't letting up with its promotions.

The Kansas-based wireless carrier said Tuesday that it would reduce the access fee for customers who signed up for its $80 or $90 family share plan to $15 from $25. The promotion lasts between November 14 and January 15.

It's just the latest in a flurry of activity from Sprint, from revamped wireless service plans to discounts for more data and lower access fees, all designed to get consumers to pay attention to the company. Though Sprint is the third-largest wireless carrier by subscriber, it continues to lose customers, and T-Mobile CEO John Legere has predicted that his company will surpass Sprint by the end of the year.

Sprint has had a rough time keeping customers, largely because of the slow rollout of its 4G LTE network and its faster "Sprint Spark" network, which combines multiple bands of spectrum for higher speeds.

Customers who sign up during the promotional period will pay the $15 access fee as long as they remain with the plan. The $80 plan provides 12 gigabytes of shared data, while $90 provides 16GB of data.

The offer is available to new and existing customers. Existing customers already on a Family Share Pack plan can make the switch, although customers on older plans need to have at least one phone on the account purchased through Easy Pay, one line that is free from a one or two-year contract, one line eligible for upgrade to a new device or plan on adding a line to the account.

The promotion follows others from Sprint, including offering double the data offered by rival AT&T, days after Sprint said it would double the data on its own plans.

Last week, Sprint reported a wider fiscal second-quarter loss even as it eked back to customer growth -- but only because of growth in its lower revenue-generating wholesale business. It also said it would cut 2,000 jobs in an effort to trim its operating costs.