Sprint's New Early Termination Fee Policy
In a statement release today by FCC Commissioner Deborah Tate, Sprint is relaxing their ETF (Early Termination Fees).
Tate states in her press release: "Consumers will be pleased that another cellular provider has announced it will prorate early termination fees (ETFs).
IMHO, this may have been one of those behind-closed-door deals to ensure the Sprint/Clearwire deal got her support.
Commissioner Tate went on to say: "Starting this week, Sprint will lower its ETF by $10 per month after six months of service. With this announcement, all four nationwide wireless providers – which together serve more than 200 million customers – now prorate their ETFs."
So, I guess the question has to be asked: What would make Sprint voluntarily walk into the FCC and say they are willing to give up some money they so desperately need?
I'll leave the speculation to you, but I think it was part of the bigger deal being the Sprint/Clearwire merger.
I do feel compelled at this point to bring up how all this makes it into the WISP industries news. Well, to start with, many WISPs require long term contracts in the same fashion as the cell phone industry does and therefore also charge ETF's. So, with the push coming from the FCC to "limit" ETFs, will this policy flow over the WISP industry as well? It may...
Tate states in her press release: "Consumers will be pleased that another cellular provider has announced it will prorate early termination fees (ETFs).
IMHO, this may have been one of those behind-closed-door deals to ensure the Sprint/Clearwire deal got her support.
Commissioner Tate went on to say: "Starting this week, Sprint will lower its ETF by $10 per month after six months of service. With this announcement, all four nationwide wireless providers – which together serve more than 200 million customers – now prorate their ETFs."
So, I guess the question has to be asked: What would make Sprint voluntarily walk into the FCC and say they are willing to give up some money they so desperately need?
I'll leave the speculation to you, but I think it was part of the bigger deal being the Sprint/Clearwire merger.
I do feel compelled at this point to bring up how all this makes it into the WISP industries news. Well, to start with, many WISPs require long term contracts in the same fashion as the cell phone industry does and therefore also charge ETF's. So, with the push coming from the FCC to "limit" ETFs, will this policy flow over the WISP industry as well? It may...