Why are US cell carriers suddenly pushing you to upgrade faster? For the money

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Within the last week, three of the United States’ four major mobile carriers (Sprint sat this one out) all announced, or are rumored to announce, variations on a theme: upgrade your phone faster, for a price.

Why is this happening all of a sudden? Put simply, the American mobile market is highly saturated—there are fewer and fewer new customers for these carriers. Only 1.1 million Americans got mobile phones for the first time in the first quarter of 2013—the lowest ever growth for that market. Q1 2012 saw around 1.83 million new additions, which shows a quarter-over-quarter loss of 60 percent this year. Meanwhile, there was a modest quarter-over-quarter gain in prepaid customers. The rest of the world, meanwhile, has been prepaid-dominant for years. As of last year, Western Europe served about 70 percent prepaid customers, while China, India, and Africa reached 70, 95, and 99 percent prepaid customers, respectively. Simply put, these new plans are a way to keep customers in contracts, which make more money for carriers.


Why are US cell carriers suddenly pushing you to upgrade faster? For the money