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Experts Who 'Called It' to Highlight Big Shift in U.S. Cell Phone Market as New Prepaid Customers Top New Contract-Based Customers for First Time Ever
*** 03/31/10 New Millennium Research Council News Advisory ***
Important Consumer Swing Was Forecast One Year Ago in NMRC Survey; Experts to Highlight What Consumers May Do Next ... and What They Need to Do to Protect Their Interests.
Twelve months after it released public opinion survey findings showing that penny pinching brought on by the current recession could lead to a major shift in U.S. wireless cell phone consumer habits, the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC) will hold a phone-based news conference at 1:30 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2010 to discuss data confirming that - for the first quarter ever -- the number of new prepaid wireless phone customers in U.S. has eclipsed the number of new contract-based phone customers.
NMRC, an independent telecommunications and technology think tank, released a national survey on March 19, 2009 showing that recession-weary consumers were now much more likely to consider subscribing to no-contract prepaid phones. Last October, the New Millennium Research Council issued a follow-up statement that the recent explosion in increasingly inexpensive and diverse prepaid wireless cell phone plans represented a likely "tipping point" in consumer habits.
Experts will discuss what the new trend in cell phones means for consumers, where things may go next, and what consumers should look for when subscribing to a cell phone plan.
News event speakers will be:
-- Jose Guzman, Project Coordinator, New Millennium Research Council;
-- Telecommunications analyst Mark Lowenstein, Managing Director, Mobile
Ecosystem; and
-- John Breyault, Vice President, Public Policy, Telecommunications,
National Consumers League, who will participate as a NCL guest expert.
TO PARTICIPATE: Reporters can join this live, phone-based news conference (including full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2010 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. (Ask for the "cell phone subscriber trends" news event.) To hear the NMRC telenews event in its entirety, dial in at least five minutes before the start time.
CAN'T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on the Web as of 6 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2010 at http://www.thenmrc.org/.
ABOUT NMRC
Created in 1999, the New Millennium Research Council is a Washington, D.C. think tank. The work of NMRC focuses primarily on the fields of telecommunications and technology. The contributors to NMRC reports develop workable, real-world solutions to the issues and challenges confronting policymakers. For more information, please visit http://www.thenmrc.org/ on the Web.
CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, +1-703-276-3266, pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com, for NMRC
/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- March 30/
Source: New Millennium Research Council, Washington, D.C.
Web Site: http://www.thenmrc.org/
Experts Who 'Called It' to Highlight Big Shift in U.S. Cell Phone Market as New Prepaid Customers Top New Contract-Based Customers for First Time Ever
*** 03/31/10 New Millennium Research Council News Advisory ***
Important Consumer Swing Was Forecast One Year Ago in NMRC Survey; Experts to Highlight What Consumers May Do Next ... and What They Need to Do to Protect Their Interests.
Twelve months after it released public opinion survey findings showing that penny pinching brought on by the current recession could lead to a major shift in U.S. wireless cell phone consumer habits, the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC) will hold a phone-based news conference at 1:30 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2010 to discuss data confirming that - for the first quarter ever -- the number of new prepaid wireless phone customers in U.S. has eclipsed the number of new contract-based phone customers.
NMRC, an independent telecommunications and technology think tank, released a national survey on March 19, 2009 showing that recession-weary consumers were now much more likely to consider subscribing to no-contract prepaid phones. Last October, the New Millennium Research Council issued a follow-up statement that the recent explosion in increasingly inexpensive and diverse prepaid wireless cell phone plans represented a likely "tipping point" in consumer habits.
Experts will discuss what the new trend in cell phones means for consumers, where things may go next, and what consumers should look for when subscribing to a cell phone plan.
News event speakers will be:
-- Jose Guzman, Project Coordinator, New Millennium Research Council;
-- Telecommunications analyst Mark Lowenstein, Managing Director, Mobile
Ecosystem; and
-- John Breyault, Vice President, Public Policy, Telecommunications,
National Consumers League, who will participate as a NCL guest expert.
TO PARTICIPATE: Reporters can join this live, phone-based news conference (including full, two-way Q&A) at 1:30 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2010 by dialing 1 (800) 860-2442. (Ask for the "cell phone subscriber trends" news event.) To hear the NMRC telenews event in its entirety, dial in at least five minutes before the start time.
CAN'T PARTICIPATE?: A streaming audio recording of the news event will be available on the Web as of 6 p.m. EDT on March 31, 2010 at http://www.thenmrc.org/.
ABOUT NMRC
Created in 1999, the New Millennium Research Council is a Washington, D.C. think tank. The work of NMRC focuses primarily on the fields of telecommunications and technology. The contributors to NMRC reports develop workable, real-world solutions to the issues and challenges confronting policymakers. For more information, please visit http://www.thenmrc.org/ on the Web.
CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell, +1-703-276-3266, pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com, for NMRC
/PRNewswire-USNewswire -- March 30/
Source: New Millennium Research Council, Washington, D.C.
Web Site: http://www.thenmrc.org/