Cricket Launches All-Inclusive ‘True Rate’ Nationwide Service Plans for Mobile Devices

Cricket Communications Inc., a leading provider of unlimited wireless services and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEAP), today announced the launch of its new true rate service plans for its feature phones and planned lineup of Smartphones. The all-inclusive monthly plans offer a range of options for unlimited nationwide talk, text and Web services and provide easier to understand pricing and greater predictability for consumers by incorporating telecom taxes, regulatory fees and other additional taxes into one low rate. Customers simply pay the monthly rate plus applicable sales tax.

With its all-inclusive plans, the Company also announced it will no longer charge activation, reactivation, migration or reinstatement fees and that it is eliminating its ‘first month free’ offer. These service plans will result in lower handset pricing for both new and existing customers. Based on successful customer trials, the new pricing is expected to drive improvements in churn due to lower deactivation and higher reactivation rates. The new plans, coupled with Cricket’s planned feature-rich device line-up, as well as recent changes to dealer compensation, are expected to increase ARPU over time by encouraging customer migration to higher-value service plans.

Cricket has further simplified its service plans by aligning pricing between its monthly PAYGo™ national retail plan and the new $35 true rate Basic Plan to create uniform pricing across the national retail and big box channels and better capitalize on advertising spending through consistent pricing messaging. This change also enables Cricket customers to find unlimited $35 national talk and text plans everywhere Cricket products are sold.

“We believe the combination of true rate service plans, in conjunction with our new device lineup and the incentives we provide to dealers, will help increase customer retention, attract new customers and drive ARPU growth over time by encouraging migration to higher-rate, higher-feature devices and plans,” said Doug Hutcheson, Leap’s president and CEO. “This culminates months of planning and seizes a window of opportunity in our back-office system development to introduce our most exciting rate plan transition ever. With these new plans and the devices we have coming, we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on the growing number of customers moving into the prepaid segment.”

Cricket’s new service plans start at $35 and offer unlimited nationwide talk and text. Other plans at $45, $55 and $60 offer additional options and features, including unlimited picture and video messaging and international text to more than 100 countries worldwide. The $55 and $60 Smartphone plans also give customers unlimited data and real-web browsing at 3G speeds. With Cricket’s expanding device lineup, customers can pick and choose a device plan according to their needs, whether it is an advanced Smartphone or a more basic phone for talk and text, without the hassle of long-term contracts.

“Based on what we have seen in the market, customers have embraced all-inclusive pricing, and with our new plans they will know exactly what they’re going to pay each month, with no additional fees, telecom taxes or overage charges apart from sales tax,” stated Al Moschner, Cricket’s chief operating officer. “Our $35 plan is among the most competitive in the wireless market, and our $55 Android plan is approximately half the monthly cost charged by larger U.S. carriers while offering the same high-speed 3G access and great features. We have a tremendous amount of respect for our customers’ wallets and with our reliable, nationwide service and 3G network, and the new plans and phones we are introducing today, customers will know they are getting incredible value as well as the flexibility to choose plans and devices that fit their budget and lifestyle.”

Cricket True Rate Service Plan Options and Pricing

Cricket PAYGo Service Plan Options and Pricing

Cricket also announced it is introducing a new $55 Premium Plan, an all-inclusive, true rate service plan offering for existing customers looking to remain on a high-function, feature phone service plan while gaining the added simplicity of Cricket’s new all-inclusive pricing.

Cricket 3G is available in all Cricket markets to approximately 92 million covered POPs. All Cricket plans, including its Smartphone plans, are prepaid and available without long-term contracts. For more information about the new Cricket service plans or to check out the dynamic handset lineup, please visit www.mycricket.com.

About Cricket

Cricket is the pioneer of simple and affordable unlimited wireless services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required serving more than 5.4 million customers in 35 states and the District of Columbia. Cricket offers wireless voice and broadband Internet services over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Cricket’s nationwide wireless voice service plans include unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited text to Mexico, unlimited Mobile Web, unlimited directory assistance, as well as a variety of calling features and feature-rich mobile applications such as popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. Cricket Broadband provides unlimited Internet access anywhere within Cricket’s coverage areas at speeds comparable to DSL. For more information on Cricket, visit www.mycricket.com. Cricket is offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information on Leap, visit www.leapwireless.com.

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Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements reflect management's current expectations based on currently available operating, financial and competitive information, but are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Our forward-looking statements include our discussions about planned product and service plan developments, competitiveness and expected financial and operational performance, and are generally identified with words such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "plan," "could," "may" and similar expressions. Risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could affect our forward-looking statements include, among other things:

• our ability to attract and retain customers in an extremely competitive marketplace;
• the duration and severity of the current economic downturn in the United States and changes in economic conditions, including interest rates, consumer credit conditions, consumer debt levels, consumer confidence, unemployment rates, energy costs and other macro-economic factors that could adversely affect demand for the services we provide;
• the impact of competitors' initiatives;
• our ability to successfully implement our new product and service plan offerings, expand our retail distribution and execute effectively on our other strategic activities;
• our ability to obtain roaming services from other carriers at cost-effective rates;
• our ability to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting;
• our ability to attract, motivate and retain an experienced workforce;
• our ability to comply with the covenants in any credit agreement, indenture or similar instrument governing any of our existing or future indebtedness;
• our ability to consummate the joint venture with Pocket Communications, associated integration risks and costs, and uncertainties regarding the performance of the joint venture post closing;
• failure of our network or information technology systems to perform according to expectations and risks associated with the upgrade or transition of certain of those systems, including our customer billing system; and
• other factors detailed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" included in our periodic reports filed with the SEC, including our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, filed with the SEC on May 10, 2010, and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2010, which we expect to file shortly with the SEC.

All forward-looking statements included in this news release should be considered in the context of these risks. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Investors and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements.

Leap is a U.S. registered trademark and the Leap logo is a trademark of Leap. Cricket, Jump, the Cricket "K" and Flex Bucket are U.S. registered trademarks of Cricket. In addition, the following are trademarks or service marks of Cricket: BridgePay, Cricket By Week, Cricket Choice, Cricket Connect, Cricket Nation, Cricket PAYGo and Cricket Wireless Internet Service. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.