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Prepaid wireless is still expanding, with store growth, broadband bundling and shifting retail fortunes reshaping the market – while Las Vegas remains the industry’s essential networking hub.
The All Wireless & Prepaid Expo was held in Las Vegas in August. Every year since 2017, I have delivered an overview of the prepaid wireless market to the Expo’s attendees. This year, I outlined three major trends for prepaid. One is continued retail growth, as more stores are opening. The second is the rise of broadband and bundling. There is much new here, as detailed below. Third, borrowing from an old western movie, national retail might be summarized as “the good, the bad, and the okay.”
Store growth continues
The number of prepaid stores – defined as stores of Metro by T-Mobile, Cricket Wireless, Boost Mobile, and Total Wireless – grew by 200+ over the past year and now exceeds 16,000. There are now more than 2,400 Total Wireless stores and this store growth has fueled the growth in the number of prepaid stores.
However, the number of Cricket stores has also grown slightly. Cricket is making a special push to add dealers in four key markets – New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Detroit. There were special booths at the Expo where dealers were being recruited to open stores in their markets. The store counts of Metro by T-Mobile and Boost Mobile have slipped modestly over the past year.
Broadband and bundling
MVNOs have long lacked the ability to sell home Internet, but this is changing. The national carriers are doing an excellent job of selling fixed wireless under their own brands. However, they have not launched wholesale versions of these services, leaving MVNOs unable to sell home Internet.
Starlink has changed this. My firm, Wave7 Research, recently reported that there are Starlink displays at more than 1,700 Boost stores. US Mobile sells bundles involving Starlink, as seen here. If Starlink is selling Internet via Boost and US Mobile, it likely has had talks with other MVNOs. When Amazon Leo launches, it will be looking for partners and it is easy to imagine MVNOs being part of the mix.
For some time, fixed wireless has been sold at stores of Metro by T-Mobile, Cricket Wireless, and Total Wireless. However, Verizon Value brands like Tracfone and Visible have new Internet/bundling initiatives and prepaid bundling with fiber is still in its infancy. That said, while in Las Vegas, I saw a sign at a Cricket store pitching AT&T Fiber at $45/month.
National retail scene
The wireless sales situation at Walmart continues to be a happy story. Recon Analytics reported in April that wireless at Walmart has been a strong success story and this stacks with findings from Wave7 Research. There are 3,569 Walmart Supercenters in the U.S. and Wave7 Research estimates that there are dedicated wireless reps at 2.9K of these stores. Straight Talk likely has more that 9 million subscribers and Walmart is the only place where it is sold. Thirteen wireless brands are sold there, including Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T.
The bad? That would be Target. As of 2019, Target was a vibrant venue for wireless sales, complete with dedicated wireless reps, displays from all three national carriers, robust prepaid displays with multiple brands, a SIM display, and a display for unlocked phones. Now, there is no wireless display. I told attendees that Wave7 Research analysts no longer visit Target during store checks.
Best Buy is doing okay in wireless. For years, there was a declining store count, but even worse, there has been less floor space for wireless and less attention from Best Buy “blue shirts.” T-Mobile exited the channel in 2023. However, Best Buy has just opened three stores and mobile sales are growing again. Reps from AT&T or Verizon are working the floors. There are dedicated displays for prepaid carriers and for unlocked phones, with Visible now prominent.
Essential networking venue
The All Wireless & Prepaid Expo has grown dramatically in recent years. Last year, I wrote in RCR Wireless that there were more than 4,900 registered attendees – smashing all previous records – and attendance this year was at this record level. The event is now the essential hub for prepaid networking and increasingly, for wireless networking. It is easier to fly to Las Vegas once for 10 meetings than it is to fly to 10 different cities.
The Expo is divided into the conference track and the show floor. I am responsible for the conference part. I kicked off with a presentation about wireless competition, as here. There were presentations from carrier exec including Verizon Value President David Kim, SurgePays/LinkUp Mobile President of Sales & Operations Derron Winfrey, Que Tal Movil CEO Daniel Barsoum, Consumer Cellular CEO Ed Evans, MobileX Chief Sales Officer Michael Lanzon, and WingTel CEO Leonid Levit.
One particularly lively session was the $100,000 Hotseat session moderated by Adam Wolf, the President of the National Wireless Independent Dealers Association. In it, dealers presented real-world retail issues to a panel of executives in a manner reminiscent of “Shark Tank.” The exec panel included Rich Balot of Victra, Jason Biado of MobileX, Jay Miglionico of Verizon Value, Kim Laue of Marceco, and Vivian Delgado-Johnson of Vivid Strategies Consulting.
The show floor was sold out. There were 150-plus vendors, representing all parts of the wireless ecosystem, ranging from wireless carriers to master dealers to payment vendors to companies selling phones and accessories, among others. The floor was humming throughout the conference, as were nearby meeting lounges.
The Expo has the best party scene in telecom. There was a huge Verizon Value party at the Kaos nightclub at the Palms. The MobileX Mixer was well-attended. The Gen & Tonic event from Gen Mobile was also well-attended. No doubt, any number of other companies had gatherings and dinners while in Las Vegas.
Trends and the Expo
The growth of prepaid retail and the growth of the Expo are related. This is the one event where thousands of leaders in prepaid wireless get together to make decisions that will benefit their business year-round. Relationships underpinning the ongoing store growth are often forged in Las Vegas. When we reconvene in August 2027, I think more emphasis will be on selling bundles in general and broadband in particular, whether via satellite or terrestrial partnerships.
The 20th annual version of the Expo will be on August 17-18, 2027, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
