Mobile communications have transformed the way we live – from how we work, to how we pay for goods and even how we keep in touch with our loved ones. Having a mobile device has become a necessity.
For the 45 million foreign-born consumers in the U.S. who must communicate internationally, the need to keep costs down is vital. Thanks to cross boarder roaming and international roaming plans, it’s become easier for people to stay in touch around the world.
Today, most people have phones already, but now they are leveraging messengers and OTT apps in conjunction with their phone plans to keep costs low.
Ultra Mobile offers unlimited domestic and international talk and text, with plans starting at $19 a month.
Central to the companies focus is a desire to, “develop meaningful, mutually rewarding partnerships with customers, retailers, distributors and co-workers.” It does so by providing differentiated communication products for the global communication industry as a whole.
I recently caught up with David Glickman, CEO of Ultra Mobile, to talk more about his predictions for the upcoming year and to hear more about what the company has been working on.
Glickman noted that the company will continue to advocate on behalf of the Ultra Mobile consumer in 2016 – from driving down costs to providing value that’s increasingly accessible.
Last year was full of big milestones for the company including passing $100 million in annual revenue, exceeding 100 U.S. employees, upsizing and upgrading both headquarters in New York and California and hiring a new president to take the business to the next level.
The company also has a number of exciting launches coming up including a strategic partnership that will extend its reach into the Hispanic market in Q1 and it will even be launching a new mobile brand that is designed for the digital consumer.
“For the past 12 months, we have been incubating an OTT platform that will allow Ultra Mobile to go global, and offer additional features to our existing base,” Glickman said.
As the company advances what it does, the market for mobile solutions is also changing. It has become easier to walk away from and avoid two year contracts now and with the U.S. being a saturated market, everyone is competing for the same customers.
“Being in the mobile space is always challenging, and now the ‘Big 4’ have demonstrated a willingness to do things they haven’t done before, such as a shift away from contracts, this means that they are increasingly playing in the same space as us.”
“Further, the move away from contracts has lowered the switching costs for customers, making it more important to keep customers loyal and focus on retention.”
Now more than ever, the focus on getting a better plan is top of mind of consumers as they consume and thirst for more data than ever before.
And there are no signs of slowing, in fact, Glickman predicted the mobile industry will see video start to really take off in 2016, which will mean more data consumption.
“Carriers will be whitelisting Netflix, YouTube and VOD providers like HBO Go, if customers agree to reduce the size of the video image. No point in watching 1080 dpi on a 5” screen. This will instantly double the amount of data consumed per subscriber,” Glickman predicted.
While it’s been a good year for consumers, it will be exciting to see what changes and advancements lie ahead and what predictions we’ll see become reality.
