Sprint on Monday followed in the footsteps of several of its major rivals with the introduction of a new offer that allows a certain amount of free roaming in Mexico and Canada.
The U.S. mobile operator introduced a new free add-on called Open World that allows customers to use their bundled voice minutes to call Canada and Mexico, as well as providing free texts to those countries.
Users roaming in Mexico, Canada and a number of Latin American countries also get 1 GB of free data; customers who want more data are billed at US$30 per GB, in megabyte increments. Text messages are also free to roaming customers, but voice calls are charged at $0.20 per minute.
"We’re opening up the world and breaking down borders so more Sprint customers can stay in touch with the people who are important to them," said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure.
"Sprint is making it easier for our customers to connect without roaming charges or excessive fees for calls or texts," he added.
Spr int is also keeping up with its competitors, both inside and outside the U.S.
Last month T-Mobile US unveiled its Mobile Without Borders offer, which allows its Simple Choice plan customers to use their existing bundles of voice minutes, SMS and data to, from and between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
Meanwhile, south of the border America Movil presented its Without Borders plan that allows users to make calls to the U.S. at local rates and to use their bundled voice minutes, SMS and data while roaming in the U.S.
The companies are all reacting to AT&T’s move into Mexico.
Following the acquisitions of Iusacell and Nextel, AT&T shared plans to create a single North American service area, that will amongst other things allow its newly-bought Mexican customers to use their domestic plans in the U.S.
