Angie Klein, recently appointed president and CEO of Verizon’s digital-only Visible prepaid unit, told Mobile World Live a different take on multi-user accounts was bearing fruit, as part of a broader strategy for the customer segment by its parent.

Visible is being positioned as a mid-tier prepaid brand, with Klein highlighting the unit’s Party Pay plan as a key driver of customer uptake. The plan offers discounts to groups of individuals rather than the more typical focus on family tariffs, with 90,000 groups registered since its launch in 2019.

Party Pay originally limited group sizes to four, but Visible abolished the limit earlier this year and Klein said some now have as many as 20,000 members.

Members do not share minutes or data, and each one gets a separate bill.

Klein said some groups using Party Pay include fans of sports teams or musicians and Visible caters to them by planning events and creating custom merchandise.

Since Visible’s customers buy and activate their phones online, eSIM technology is important to the business, Klein said, adding 20 per cent of Visible’s gross additions now have compatible devices.

Klein said a planned acquisition of Tracfone by Verizon will be positive for the operator’s overall prepaid business, boosting its presence in the value tier of the market.