Cricket, Fox partner on mobile content

By Dan Butcher

July 31, 2008

K to the deal

Cricket Communications Inc. and News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media have signed a content distribution agreement that will let the carrier's customers access the media giant’s portfolio of Web sites via mobile phone.

Fox Interactive Media’s worldwide network includes social networking site MySpace, photo and video sharing site Photobucket, gaming and entertainment news site IGN, FoxSports.com, movie reviews site RottenTomatoes and AskMen.com.

Cricket is expected to make content from these and other sites owned by News Corp. available to its wireless customers, although no timeline has been set.

“We are continually looking to form strategic relationships with industry leaders like Fox Interactive Media to provide further richness and depth of content and new applications for our customers,” said James Seines, vice president of corporate communications for Cricket, San Diego, CA.

“This partnership with Fox will allow us to broaden our overall suite of services and enrich our customers’ experience," he said. “We are actively engaged in forming an implementation plan to leverage this relationship and integrate this new content."

Expand and conquer

Cricket serves a diverse segment of customers. In fact, 43 percent of subscribers are either Hispanic or African-American.

Also, Cricket claims that 60 percent of its customers make less than $30,000 per year.

“Our demographics are skewed towards younger customers,” Mr. Seines said. “Two-thirds are less than 35 years old and are heavy users of Fox Interactive Media’s sites and social networking, with MySpace being its most recognizable sub-brand.”

Cricket, a subsidiary of Leap Wireless International Inc., designs and markets wireless products. 

The carrier offers unlimited wireless services over an all-digital network for a flat-rate, with no long-term commitments or credit checks required. Cricket offers unlimited anytime voice minutes, U.S. long distance, unlimited text, instant and picture messaging, mobile Web access, games, ringtones and wallpapers.

Cricket has also signed an agreement with Universal Music Group to sell ringtones and ringback-tones.

With approximately 3.1 million customers, Cricket service is available in 29 states nationwide. It claims to be the eighth-largest U.S. wireless carrier.

Cricket has plans to expand to various major markets in the near future, including Seattle, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Richmond, VA, and Savannah, GA.

 “Our network covers approximately 61.7 million potential customers who live, work and play within the network coverage area,” Mr. Seines said. “We doubled the size of our network from 2006-2007 and it could cover 100 million potential customers by 2010.”

Cricket customers report making and receiving an average of 23.3 calls per day, more than three times the average for prepaid customer.

The company says that 32 percent of its customers send at least one text message per day, compared with 12 percent of non-Cricket customers. Also, 89 percent of its customers text at least once per week, and 16 percent report that they send 500 or more text messages each week.

“Our customers are very heavy users of these types of services, with 1,500 minutes per month average use, about twice the rest of industry,” Mr. Seines said.

“They’re also heavy users of data services, with text messaging far above rest of the industry as far as the sheer amount of text messages sent and received,” he said. “We’re the fifth largest producer of text messaging in the U.S.”

Because Cricket’s customers can talk as much as they want in their home calling area, they rely more on their wireless service than traditional wireless customers.

Telecommunications analysis firm the Yankee Group says that 68 percent of Cricket customers use Cricket as their only phone service, compared to an industry average of 15 percent. The firm predicts that landline displacement is a trend that will continue to grow.

Cricket's aim is to appeal to its customer base by continuing to add content.

“As we continue to grow, a relationship with a content provider such as Fox Interactive Media is good for our business, in that in expands our portfolio of mobile content,” Mr. Seines said. “It’s also good for their business, since they gain a platform for their content on one of the most rapidly growing carriers in the U.S.”