Sprint's Boost Mobile vows to expand customer base

NEW YORK -- With the economy in dire straits, wireless service provider Boost Mobile is looking to broaden its appeal to budget-conscious consumers from all walks of life, beyond its earlier focus mainly on younger people in urban areas.

The subsidiary of Overland Park, Kan.-based Sprint Nextel Corp. is launching a nationwide ad campaign this week that will try to position its "prepaid" $50-a-month unlimited voice and data plan as a "straightforward" service with no extra fees or long distance charges, said Boost's president, Matt Carter.

Irvine, Calif.-based Boost's main rivals, MetroPCS Communications Inc. and Leap Wireless International Inc., the owner of the Cricket brand, offer similar plans between $45 and $50, but with extra taxes and fees.

Prepaid wireless plans, which require no annual contract or credit checks, represent one of the last growth areas in the U.S. cell phone market. And with the recession crippling Americans' monthly budgets, prepaid providers are looking to expand their customer base even further.

Prepaid service providers have mainly focused their marketing on younger customers and people with limited or bad credit who did not necessarily qualify for contract plans. Now, said Carter, "prepaid is becoming a viable option for a larger number of customers."

Analysts say the Boost service has been a relative bright spot for Sprint Nextel, which overall has been losing subscribers and recently cut 8,000 jobs, 14 percent of its work force.