Benzinga | Oct 29, 2021 02:33PM EDT

AT&T Makes Cricket Wireless More Accessible To Tap Budding Prepaid Market

* AT&T Inc (NYSE:T) Prepaid Portfolio member Cricket Wireless reached 12.4 million subscribers, growing by over 2 million subscribers in 2 years.

* Cricket Wireless also removed the 8Mbps speed caps on its monthly plans of $30, $40, and $55 and added 5G network access on every plan.

* Now, existing customers on current rate plans can enjoy access to the 5G network for just $25 per month per line with four lines of service. AT&T started giving the top tier of its Cricket customers free HBO Max two months ago.

* AT&T now included 5G network access for its prepaid customers, matching offers by T-Mobile US Inc's (NASDAQ: TMUS) Metro service and Verizon Communications Inc's (NYSE: VZ) Visible venture.

* AT&T previously kept its lower-tier Cricket customers at an 8-megabit-per-second speed limit while video gaming or high-definition video streaming best responded to speeds of 10-megabits-per-second or faster.

* Carriers are now seeking more growth in riskier areas like low-credit customers who opt for prepaid connections.

* Price Action: T shares traded lower by 1.39% at $25.20 on the last check Friday.