Cricket's Muve Music Hits a High Note; Surpasses 100,000 Customer Mark in Five Short Months

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SAN DIEGO, July 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cricket Communications, a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless services and a wholly owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEAP) today announced that Muve Music, the first unlimited music service to be included as part of a wireless rate plan, has exceeded 100,000 customers in just five months. Muve Music is sold in all Cricket markets, which encompasses approximately one-third of the U.S., and is currently available on one feature phone, the Samsung Suede.

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Muve Music has become one of the fastest growing music services in the country, doubling its subscriber base in just over two months. More than 50 percent of Muve Music's customers are new to Cricket, which further demonstrates its broad marketplace appeal. By applying its philosophy of unlimited services and value innovation, Cricket has given its customers a new music experience that ranks high in customer satisfaction.

"We're pleased with the early success of Muve Music," said Doug Hutcheson, president and chief executive officer of Cricket Communications. "This innovative new product has been well-received by both existing and new customers who are looking to enjoy digital music downloads as part of their monthly wireless service plan. According to our customer research, Muve Music scores a 90 percent satisfaction rating, and 95 percent of customers would recommend the service to family and friends. These ratings are the highest of any product or service Cricket has launched to date. We are working aggressively to bring the Muve Music service to the Android platform.  We also look forward to launching the service nationwide later this year."

Customer Usage & Engagement

According to Cricket's research, Muve Music customers are deeply engaged and the Muve Music phone is quickly replacing MP3 players, iPods and computers as the primary music device in their lives.  Early data indicates that Muve Music customers are happy with the selection of songs and enthusiastically downloading tracks and listening to music wherever they go.

• The Muve Music customer typically spends two to three hours a day listening to music on their Muve-enabled phone.
• On average, customers download 400 songs per month over Cricket's 3G network.
• Since the initial Muve Music launch five months ago, customers have downloaded more than 100 million total songs – a rate that is three times faster than the leading digital music service
• In the month of May alone, over 100 million song plays took place within the Muve Music service

By including unlimited song downloads, ringtones and ringback tones as part of a wireless rate plan, Muve Music delivers a fully featured mobile music experience.  Cricket's more than 100,000 customers are taking full advantage of this service offering.  Ninety nine percent of Muve Music customers download and play songs on their phone every month, while more than two-thirds have at least one active ringtone and ringback tone set in the service.

"With all the talk of complex cloud services, there is a still a large segment of the market looking for a simple music service that's easy to use on the device that's with them all the time," said Jeff Toig, general manager of Muve Music. "Muve Music delivers the best music experience ever designed for the phone. The extraordinary usage data we're seeing shows that Muve Music provides customers a service that is becoming very important in their everyday life."

The music industry has also been excited by Cricket's early success. "We are thrilled with the continued growth of Muve Music," commented David Ring, executive vice president, business development and business and legal affairs for UMG's Global Digital Business. "Fans now have a compelling, engaging and easily accessible new service to find and enjoy music from UMG's catalog of chart-topping hits, while our artists have a powerful new way to reach their fans. Muve has also tapped into a new demographic of music fans who are now able to enjoy the ease of digital music and are likely to convince their friends to join as well."

Michael Nash, executive vice president, digital strategy and business development, Warner Music Group, said, "Cricket has delivered a highly compelling music service specifically targeting mobile consumers. We are excited about this milestone they've reached, which demonstrates the opportunity of innovative services to expand the digital marketplace."

About Muve Music
In January, Cricket Communications became the first U.S. wireless carrier to offer consumers unlimited music as part of a wireless rate plan. For just $55 a month, Cricket customers across the country can now purchase wireless service that includes unlimited nationwide talk, text, web and unlimited music (full track downloads, ringtones and ringback tones). This new product offering features an innovative new digital music service, called Muve Music. It is the first music experience designed specifically for the mobile phone; there are no download fees or monthly music subscriptions – it's all included.

The Muve service was built for customers for whom the phone, not the computer, is the center of their digital life. With Muve Music, Cricket has eliminated the complexity found with other digital music services – there are no cables, no drivers and no synching required. Everything happens over Cricket's nationwide 3G network to deliver a robust music experience to music lovers on the go.

Muve is the result of a unique collaboration, led by Cricket, between the recorded music and music publishing industries, as well as technology partners Samsung Mobile and SanDisk. The service has an ever-growing music library of millions of recordings featuring artists from 55 record labels, including those owned by Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music. Muve Music debuted in early January at the International Consumer Electronics Show. The service launched commercially in Las Vegas on January 20, 2011 and by May 2011, was available in all Cricket markets (one-third of the US) with plans to roll out nationwide later this year.

How to Get Muve Music
Muve Music is available at Cricket company-owned stores and at www.mycricket.com, as well as through select partner retail outlets. The Cricket Muve Music wireless unlimited plan is $55 per month. The Samsung Suede has an M.S.R.P. of $199, but prices may vary by market and by promotional programs. Additional accessories are available for purchase including premium headphones, an audio jack and Bluetooth adapter to connect to home and car stereos, either wired or wirelessly.

For more information about Muve Music, visit www.muvemusic.com, and for Cricket's dynamic device lineup, 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 5.8 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. 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.

SOURCE Cricket Communications, Inc.