AT&T loses 343,000 recharge users as MVNOs advance in the segment

AT&T serves 21.6 million subscribers, of which 4.9 million are postpaid, that is, 25%, while the bulk of clients -16 million- correspond to the recharge modality. But this segment little by little begins to deflate.

Experts consulted by Expansion They consider that the slowdown in the growth of prepaid in AT&T during the last quarter is due to a smartphone sales issue, which in 2021 stood out due to the need to have a better quality phone, which translated into enabling a new line, but that in 2022 it stabilized.

“The acquisition of equipment decreased due to a shortage issue that hit in the first two quarters of 2022 and in the last two quarters of that same year, users increased the replacement cycle of cellular equipment and this clearly affected AT&T,” he points out. Erick de la Cruz, a telecommunications analyst at the Select consulting firm.

Another factor, says Fernando Esquivel, director of market research at The Ciu consultancy, that affects AT&T’s results is the company’s strategy of focusing on the postpaid segment, through personalized plans that allow users acquire the megabytes and social networks that only require monthly.

The company’s financial data shows that the flexibility of its plans has allowed it to add 118,000 postpaid customers annually. In addition, the strategy allows it to refine the user base to keep those with the highest purchasing power, which is reflected in its average revenue per mobile user (ARPU for its acronym in English), going from 141 pesos to 143, from 2021 to 2022 respectively.

The MVNOs keep the prepayment

Virtual Mobile Operators (MVNOs) such as Bait de Walmart, Oxxo cel and Izzi Móvil, among others, began to take center stage in the pandemic thanks to their aggressive telephone offers accompanied by unlimited data. Their strategy has allowed them to increase their presence in the mobile market by already holding a 6.6% share and even beginning to consolidate in the prepaid segment.

For experts, OMVs is another factor why AT&T could be losing prepaid users because these companies, which are mostly in the Altán network, launch mobile recharge plans with unlimited data at a very affordable cost. , whose offers are difficult to replicate for a traditional operator.

“These business models launched by unlimited data MVNOs are part of those that seek to make connectivity affordable, but the only drawback is that the business of offering a lot (megabytes) for little money is unprofitable in terms of infrastructure and is something that Altán already demonstrated with its commercial bankruptcy”, says De la Cruz.

However, specialists assure that large operators such as AT&T will not leave the prepaid business, since it continues to be the predominant one in their operations and especially at a time when a possible recession is forecast where the main connectivity resource will be recharges. .