Verizon Acquires Tracfone In a Deal Worth More Than $6 Billion

Verizon, the largest wireless network in the U.S., has acquired Tracfone, the largest mobile virtual network operator. The Verge reports: Tracfone is the largest reseller of wireless services in the US, with 21 million subscribers, around 850 employees, and a network of more than 90,000 retail locations. It's owned by Mexico-based America Movil, and along with the Tracfone brand, operates the Net10 and Straight Talk brands in the US. More than 13 million Tracfone customers already rely on Verizon's wireless network; Tracfone doesn't run its own physical network in the US and instead rides on other cellphone carriers' systems for a fee.

The acquisition gives Verizon a bigger foothold in the value and low-income wireless segments. Verizon says it will continue to offer Tracfone's Lifeline service, which allows qualifying customers to receive free phones and free monthly minutes, and StraightTalk, which offers prepaid, no-contract service phone plans. The deal will include $3.125 billion of cash and $3.125 billion in Verizon common stock. Tracfone could also receive an additional $650 million cash payment tied to performance measures. It's expected to close in the second half of 2021.

Re:

[BinBoy]

Goodbye low prices. Tracfone has a janky web site but at least the prices are (were?) reasonable.

Re:

[pepsikid]

Yep, so much for having smartphone service for $50/year. And they'll probably make talk time expire now instead of rolling them forward.

Re:

[kriston]

Tracfone really was a reasonable deal for prepaid.

Not anymore? Time will tell.

Re:

[pepsikid]

Screw $40/mo. I pay $50/YEAR for service for my smartphone with Tracfone.

Re:

[will_die]

It is great for people who don't make many calls, use wifi most of the time or limit data, and don't make international calls(outside of the Americas).
I pay a little over $100 a year for 4 gigs of data and enough messages and call time to handle all my needs.

Re:

[Ostracus]

Exactly. Funny thing is they occasionally allow the $9 plan on my smartphone, but usually it's the $15+taxes make it $17 (buying through Walmart shaves that off) plan.

Anti-trust? That's sooooo 1900-s!

[Cyberax]

How the heck would this deal be allowed? This is a straight anti-trust violation with no possible upsides (like in T-Mobile + Sprint merger).

Re:

[supremebob]

Anti-trust sounds a bit extreme. There are still other independent budget oriented cell service resellers out there. Consumer Cellular comes to mind, but there are several others.

It actually kinda makes sense for Verizon to own one these of cheaper prepaid services. T-Mobile bought MetroPlus, AT&T owns Cricket, and Sprint owned Boost Mobile before it got bought up.

Re:

[TheRealMindChild]

Tracphone is already dependent on Verizon, and the other carriers have a acquired a discount cell phone counterpart. AT&T has Cricket. The Sprint/T-Mobile bit is a little goofy.

Re:

[lexman098]

I guess you've never heard of an MVNO [wikipedia.org]? The t-mobile merger was good because it gives Verizon and AT&T some real competition at the "primary carrier" level so to speak. Prices stay low with MVNOs. I'd say the MVNOs will be more competitive with three major networks to piggy back on compared to just two.

around 850 employees...

[alleycat0]

...and a network of more than 90,000 retail locations. How does that work?

Re:

[naelurec]

Most of the retail locations are unmanned displays.. Ie at Walmart, grocery stores, etc.

"Value" market

[sound+vision]

I was on Tracfone prepaid last year. I barely used the phone for talking, and never used it for internet. Then I ended up moving around for a couple months, not really at any place long enough for it to be worth hooking up internet (or at a hotel with shitty Wifi). So I decided to put some data on it. $10/GB, and that gigabyte doesn't go far nowadays. Every other page has some shitty autoplay video that you're not allowed to disable, so it's conceivable that you might end up paying $1 per page load. And God