If you’re in the US and want unlimited data, you’re in luck, as Verizon has now done a complete 180º on its view of unlimited data plans.

12 months ago Verizon said unlimited data, as a business model, was dead. However, the carrier kicked off 2017 with a serious bang, confirming the return of unlimited data plans.

The return of unlimited data plans at Verizon is netting the carrier a lot of new friends as well. More and more people are leaving other networks and going to Verizon for its unlimited data plans.

“At a Deutsche Bank investor conference on Tuesday,” reports BGR, “Sprint CFO Tarek Robbiati confirmed (in a rather roundabout way) that Verizon’s push on unlimited data is hurting Sprint’s numbers.”

Churn means people leaving one carrier and moving to another. Or, in the context of the above statement, a way of saying a carrier is losing customers to a competitor.

Verizon joins AT&T and T-Mobile in offering unlimited data plans, but the advent of Verizon’s switcharoo has meant both AT&T and T-Mobile have had to improve their services.

You can check out Verizon's aggressively priced Unlimited Data plans right here. 

Sprint, meanwhile, has been forced to cut prices in order to stay competitive but this means the network is losing money and has less to reinvest in its network.

Basically, this isn’t a good place to be for a carrier.

BGR reckons the longterm plan inside Sprint is to pursue a merger with another carrier. At present, T-Mobile is apparently the front runner and if said merger does happen it will create one hell of a network with a big reach in the US market.

EE, the product of T-Mobile and Orange, in the UK is the product of something similar and the net result of that merger made EE the biggest network in the UK overnight.

The combined resources allowed EE to innovate at a rapid rate and develop its network at a much faster rate than its competitors.

The downside of such mergers is a reduction in competition in the space, though given Sprint’s current situation, perhaps a merger is the best possible outcome for all?

What do you guys think?