Alongside the team from Trump Mobile, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump unveil T1 Mobile, a transformational, new cellular service designed to deliver top-tier connectivity, unbeatable value and all-American service for our nation’s hardest-working people. …
Trump Mobile will offer 5G service through all three major cellular carriers. At the heart of Trump Mobile is its flagship The 47 Plan, which is available for only $47.45 per month. Subscribers will receive the following added benefits:
-
Unlimited talk, text, and data
-
Complete device protection
-
24/7 roadside assistance thrugh Drive America
-
Telehealth services, including virtual medical care, mental health support, and easy ordering and delivery for prescription medications
-
Free International calling to more than 100 countries, including many with American military bases to help honor the families who are bravely serving in our military abroad
-
No contracts, no credit check
Here is what some of the mainstream media are saying…
CNBC: Trump’s $499 smartphone will likely be made in China
The Trump Organization says the phone will be “built in the United States” — but experts note the phone was likely designed and would be manufactured by a Chinese firm.
“There is no way the phone was designed from scratch and there is no way it is going to be assembled in the U.S. or completely manufactured in the U.S.,” Francisco Jeronimo, vice president at International Data Corp., told CNBC on Tuesday. “That is completely impossible.”
MSNBC: Trump Mobile won’t make cellphones cheap again. Here’s what will.
Like many other Trump-branded products, Trump Mobile is a licensing agreement for the president’s name, in this case between the Trump Organization and a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), T1 Mobile LLC. That company is partnering with “all three major cellular carriers” (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile) to provide 5G service, and using Google’s Android operating system for its phone.
While Trump and his family profit from the licensing deal, Trump Mobile is a poor deal for consumers. At launch, its single prepaid wireless plan is $47.45 a month. That’s a reference to Trump being the 45th and 47th presidents, but it’s also nearly 20% more expensive than the equivalent plan from the three major U.S. phone carriers. In comparison, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile’s prepaid carriers offer unlimited talk, text and data for $40 a month or less. Other MVNOs’ plans are even cheaper. …
Not only are there just three major phone carriers in the U.S., most Americans’ cellphones are made by two companies — Apple and Samsung. Under the first Trump administration, the already concentrated market further consolidated from four to three large players after the Justice Department approved the T-Mobile Sprint merger in 2019. The two companies claimed they needed to combine in order to compete with AT&T and Verizon “more effectively,” and that they would offer consumers and businesses “lower prices [and] greater competition” while creating “thousands of new American jobs.” In reality, this deal resulted in higher prices and a number of layoffs despite the promise of new jobs.
NY Times: Trump Mobile Phone Company Announced by President’s Family, but Details Are Murky
Trump Mobile is the latest in a string of Trump family deals that were inked or accelerated after Mr. Trump won his second term, including a digital currency that is now a significant source of his wealth. Governance experts have said that the projects pose an unprecedented array of conflicts of interest for an American president.
“Good luck getting a federal agency to hold the company accountable if service fails or things go off the rails,” said Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, a nonprofit watchdog group.
It will be interesting to see if this has an impact on broadband policy and federal funding, especially with all of the recent changes to BEAD and the greater focus on wireless networks.