Straight Talk Wireless continues to be a bright spot for its parent company América Móvil. In quarter 1 of 2020, the brand added 91k new subscribers, bringing its total subscriber count to 9.473 million. This is in contrast to major carrier prepaid brands all of which saw a loss in the quarter. Year over year Straight Talk Wireless grew its subscriber base by 1.2%. The same cannot be said of América Móvil's other brands some of which include Tracfone, SafeLink, Total Wireless, and Simple Mobile.
SafeLink lost 22.9% of its subscribers year over year, as America Movil continues to shift focus towards higher-margin customers. Aside from Straight Talk and SafeLink, América Móvil does not disclose subscriber counts for its other brands, but rather gives a collective count. All other brands collectively lost 4.2% of their subscriber base year over year dropping from 9.581 million subs down to 9.180 million.
Straight Talk Wireless's recent success isn't confined to quarter 1 of 2020. In quarter 4 of 2019, the brand added 75,000 new subscribers. The net additions gave Straight Talk Wireless for the first time ever, more subscribers than all other Tracfone brands combined, excluding SafeLink.
Straight Talk Wireless Updates Plan And Tagline, Launches New Commercials In Q2
Growth in quarter 2 may be a little more difficult to come by for the brand given the stay at home orders put in place in various states due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Straight Talk Wireless has a large and exclusive retail presence in Walmart's nationwide where sales could be impacted.
The brand did recently increase the amount of data included with its $35 phone plan, a move that could still help push growth upward despite possible sluggish sales through the retail channel. The plan now includes 5GB of data at high-speeds instead of 3GB. According to a report just filed by the firm Wave7 Research, the plan is being heavily supported through advertising. At the end of April new radio and TV ads were launched to highlight the updated plan. One TV ad which you can view below, tells customers that they can now "go from 3GB of high-speed data to 5GB for the same price on our $35 unlimited plan no contract." Wave7 Research also notes Straight Talk has a new tagline "No Contract No Compromise" which is being featured in the new commercials such as the one below. The previous tagline was "Everything For Less."
For the first part of April, Straight Talk briefly paused TV ad spending. Wave7 Research says that the new TV ad from Straight Talk put an end to that pause. The ad comes at a time when states are putting together plans to reopen their economies. The commercial reminds viewers that Straight Talk Wireless is only at Walmart.