Wireless carrier Alltel Wireless, which may soon become part of Verizon, added texting to its My Circle offer, letting customers with a message pack exchange unlimited text, video and picture messages with other suscribers.

Alltel subscribers can choose from several message packs, including plans for $7.99 or $12.99 per month, which provide customers 400 or 1,000 additional text, video, picture messages, respectively, to communicate with consumers who are not Alltel customers. A message pack can be added to any My Circle five, 10 or 20 calling plan.

"The interesting thing is that as time goes on, texting and messaging in general is no longer for just the youth - more and more people are texting," said Garry Bledsoe, vice president of pricing strategy for Alltel, Little Rock, AR.

"Families and friends communicate in so many ways other than just voice, and texting is now a vital component of our My Circle plans," he said.

For customers seeking unlimited messaging, Alltel still offers the $19.99 All Access Pass that includes unlimited messaging and mobile Web access.

Alltel is also introducing new My Circle Family Choice Plus plans.

For $84.99 per month, customers will receive two mobile lines with 1,000 shared minutes and the ability to call any 10 numbers on any network. Or, customers can receive two lines with 2,000 shared minutes and unlimited calling within their circle of 20 numbers for $114.99.

"By creating a voice and data bundle with messaging, we're telling our customers, no matter how you choose to communicate, it will be included in your plan," Mr. Bledsoe said. "A lot of families have taken advantage of the messaging component.

"We've had a lot of success with Family Choice plans, and My Circle message packs are the next logical extension," he said. "We've now made messaging work in a very similar manner to voice calling, with unlimited mobile-to-mobile messaging to your circle, same as on the voice side."

An advertising campaign promoting the My Choice message packs will start July 13, with new television spots featuring Chad the sales guy, as well as newspaper, online media and retail point-of-sale campaigns.

Alltel has also sent customers who text often an e-mail letting them know about the new offerings.

Currently, Alltel has only planned a retail point-of-sale campaign for the Family Choice Plus plans.

"All of these plans are targeting families, since it's such an important group in the industry overall," Mr. Bledsoe said. "We're trying to give families another option that's affordable by providing messaging as a full component of a rate plan."

Alltel has not yet partnered with any companies to do mobile advertising, although it may consider such strategies down the road.

Alltel has more than 13 million customers. It claims to be the first carrier to offer Anytime Plan Changes, giving customers the flexibility to change their calling plans at any time without extending their current contract.

Verizon recently announced plans to buy Alltel for $28.1 billion in cash and debt (see story).

This new effort takes My Circle and moves it from just a voice offering into the messaging space, Mr. Bledsoe said.

"Only one other carrier offers unlimited messaging, and that's Verizon," he said. "I think their package is $10, whereas our package starts at $7.99, and includes a certain number of out-of-network text messages, so it's very different from anything else that's out there."

In addition to the unlimited calling within their circle, Family Choice plan customers will receive unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls and unlimited nights and weekends. Customers will also have the ability to choose either free evening calls starting at 7 p.m. or 1,000 text/picture/video messages to non-Alltel customers.

The plans include unlimited texting to their circle of friends and other Alltel customers.

My Circle customers receive unlimited free calls to and from any combination of home phone, office or wireless numbers located anywhere in the United States, regardless of local phone company or wireless carrier.

Alltel also allows customers to change their numbers anytime for free by visiting http://www.alltel.com/myaccount.

"This allows customers to decide the value of the plan they need," Mr. Bledsoe said. "It allows customers to right-size their package to whatever fits their needs. That's why it will be so important in the industry."