SPRINT ADDING NEW ADD-ON DATA CHARGE TO ALL SMARTPHONES ACTIVATED AFTER JANUARY 30

In a vaguely worded press release, Sprint announced that it would “increase its postpaid rates by applying a $10 per month Premium Data add-on charge to activations of smartphones beginning Jan. 30.” The company notes that smartphone users, on average, use “10 times more data than users of traditional feature phones.” As the press release reads:

Sprint defines smartphones as devices with robust operating systems that deliver a rich wireless experience by bringing the full function of mobile applications and programs to life, including Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, and the Instinct family of devices. The Premium Data add-on charge previously applied to HTC EVO 4G, HTC EVO Shift 4G and Samsung Epic 4G devices.

Sprint,who until recently has been bleeding subscribers, will not be making many friends with this move.