Exclusive: Sprint Confirms It Will Offer Unlimited Data Plan for iPhone
Sprint will indeed offer unlimited data plans when it starts taking iPhone orders later this week, AllThingsD has confirmed. — “We will be offering the benefit of our unlimited plans that start at just $69.99,” said spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein.
Context & Ripple Effects
Two days after the Wall Street Journal reported Sprint was preparing to 'bet the company' on the iPhone, the carrier has confirmed the pricing half of that bet: unlimited data starting at $69.99, per spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein, with orders opening later this week. That makes Sprint the first US carrier to launch the phone with an uncapped data promise attached.
The contrast with the earlier launches is the point. When Verizon added the iPhone in January, its $30 unlimited data plan was explicitly framed as temporary, and AT&T's original 2007 exclusive arrangement set the template of pairing the device with metered-style service. Sprint is positioning itself as the last carrier still selling unlimited, which dovetails with its public fight against the AT&T/T-Mobile merger it argues would squeeze it out of the market.
First-order effects
- Sprint enters the iPhone market as the only major US carrier offering unlimited data with the device, undercutting Verizon's already-hedged unlimited framing and giving it a clear pitch against AT&T and Verizon ahead of October 7 pre-orders.
- The commitment locks Sprint into subsidizing iPhones at scale on a 'bet the company' thesis, raising the cost of the plan failing to win subscribers.
Second-order effects
- AT&T and Verizon face pressure to defend their tiered-data pricing against a rival whose main differentiator is the very feature they are retiring, especially with the AT&T/T-Mobile merger review making Sprint's competitiveness a live regulatory question.
- Sprint's own July ad campaign mocking T-Mobile's 'unlimited' plan while reportedly testing throttling hands critics a ready-made attack on its new unlimited promise, inviting scrutiny of how long the guarantee survives network load.
Third-order effects
- If unlimited data proves to be Sprint's winning wedge, US carrier competition shifts from handset exclusivity — the model since AT&T's 2007 deal — to data-plan terms, forcing every carrier to price capacity rather than devices.
- Apple gains leverage from running four-carrier distribution instead of one exclusive partner, letting carriers, not Apple, absorb the margin pain of competing for iPhone customers.
The trend: As the iPhone spreads across all major US carriers, wireless competition is migrating from who sells the device to who sells the data plan, with unlimited data becoming the last big differentiator.