Introduction (continued)
Today, consumers are going exactly where we are – and where we always have been. They are migrating from postpaid to prepaid wireless plans and looking for value more than ever before. The customers we serve – young, ethnically diverse and typically in households earning less than $50,000 a year – are among the fastest-growing segments in the wireless business. Our 2008 results show that we are emerging as a wireless carrier with national service offerings providing the right products, in the right place, at the right time.
From our beginning, we have had the vision to see where the wireless world is going. We changed a whole industry with our unlimited approach to wireless voice. We have put unlimited everywhere – in voice, text, mobile Web and more. Last year we augmented the success of our pioneering Cricket Wireless service by adding two new products with attractive growth prospects. We commercially launched Cricket Broadband, our unlimited high-speed mobile broadband service, in the second quarter of 2008, and began the introductory launch of Cricket PAYGo™, our new 24/7 unlimited prepaid wireless service, in October 2008. Like Cricket Wireless, these offerings leverage our low-cost structure to innovate value at industry-leading prices.
As we launched the first of our Auction 66 markets in 2008, we began the third major wave of expansion in our Company’s history. We expect to grow our business much as we have in the past – by building networks with the coverage and density to support unlimited talk, text and broadband; by launching markets with the right retail distribution mix; and by rapidly adding customers as we seek to quickly generate positive cash flow in each market. We look forward to these new markets with confidence, a confidence that is built on our history of success. With our proven business model, we stand ready to bring our growing product portfolio to even more customers across the country.