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Build me a list of up to 4, Pre-Paid Wireless providers that meet the following criteria: These are the four companies that I want evaluated - Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Metro PCS, Straight Talk Wireless (if there is a fifth in the Metro-Atlanta area, please add it). For each, please include Length of franchise contract, Franchise Contract structure, Startup costs, Commission structure, Umbrella Carrier (Sprint, etc), Competitive advantages (at least 2), Franchisee support, Franchise fee (yes/no and how much), #of locations in Atlanta area (estimated), Franchise survival or failure rate (estimated %), Target market (age, ethnicity, income, etc), Pricing.
Hello! Thank you for asking Wonder to build a list of pre-paid wireless providers including Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Metro PCS and Straight Talk Wireless.
The most useful sources I found to answer your question were the company websites under dealer or franchise information tabs and articles written that give further insights.
The short version is that Boost Mobile and Metro PCS are dealership opportunities while Cricket Wireless is the only franchise and Straight Talk Wireless seems to be located within Walmart stores only. You will find a complete spreadsheet of findings here.
Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
I started by preparing a spreadsheet allocating each of the requested metrics a space in the column. I then listed out each wireless provider. From there I searched all information available for each company to find the required metrics. I was not able to find a failure rate for any of the companies listed nor was I able to find a failure rate for the mobile phone industry as a whole. Some of the metric information is not available publically and will need to be obtained by applying for dealership or franchise opportunities directly. Those spots are labeled 'not specified'. The information used is the most recent that I could find for documentation.
FINDINGS
Boost Mobile offers a dealership plan. The initial inventory investment is $7,000 and the working capital recommended to open one store is a minimum of $70,000. Boost offers multiple stores and touts that multiple store owners make six-figures. Boost has no annual contracts and unlimited plans as low as $35.
Cricket Wireless is the only pre-paid carrier on the list that is a true franchise. Cricket requires a minimum of 3 locations per franchisee to begin with. Cricket is a fully supported franchise with all systems in place for new owners. The minimum cash required is upwards of $300,000 as each store costs near $80-100K to open and cash on hand required is $25,000. The benefit of choosing Cricket would be that every detail is laid out ahead of time, there would be no surprises and one would have a turn-key business from the beginning.
Metro PCS is also a dealership. There is very little outlining their policies on the web, but an article outlines the initial expense and that a business plan would be in short order. The costs and demographic targeted are very similar to Boost Mobile.
From all of my searching I could not find that Straight Talk offers dealerships outside of Walmart. It appears to appeal to a similar demographic and has a similar price point per month as the other pre-paid phone companies. The clear benefit would be that the umbrella is all four major networks, so there is sufficient coverage nationwide.
A review site that may be of interest that has additional information and compares similar mobile phone companies side-by-side can be located here.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, the pre-paid mobile phone companies including Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Metro PCS and Straight Talk are similar in target demographic, costs to customers, yet the franchise and/or dealer options vary greatly. To see the full list of all metrics see the spreadsheet here.
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