Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, will offer two no-contract mobile-telephone plans for $30 and $45 a month, opening new competition for U.S. wireless providers before the holidays.

More than 3,200 Walmart stores in the U.S. will sell the Straight Talk prepaid service starting Oct. 18, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company said today in a statement. Shares of pay- as-you-go wireless carriers Leap Wireless International Inc. and MetroPCS Communications Inc. declined.

Walmart could grab sales from competitors by expanding the availability of low-priced plans, even as wireless growth slows, said Michael Nelson, an analyst at Soleil/Nelson Alpha Research. Walmart is entering the fastest-growing part of the almost saturated U.S. mobile-phone market, he said.

“Walmart has a history of being, in many cases, a category killer,” New York-based Nelson said in a telephone interview. “I would expect the increasing proportion of new wireless sales to be sold through the big box retailers and indirect dealers versus traditional, company-owned stores.”

Nelson recommends holding shares of MetroPCS and Leap, and doesn’t own any.

Wireless Coverage

There are enough wireless devices to cover nine out of every 10 people in the U.S., according to the CTIA wireless industry association.

Walmart fell 15 cents to $50.19 at 4:01 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have declined 10 percent this year.

Leap, based in San Diego, California, fell 16 cents, or 1 percent, to $15.24 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The stock has lost 43 percent this year. Dallas-based MetroPCS declined 22 cents, or 2.9 percent, to $7.32 on the New York Stock Exchange, and has fallen 51 percent this year.

A spokesman for MetroPCS declined to comment.

Leap Wireless will announce a move to expand its monthly plans into Walmart and Dollar General Corp. stores in the next few days, Leap spokesman Greg Lund said by telephone. The company will also start selling mobile Internet plans in an exclusive deal with a retail chain in the next week, he said.

“We’re rolling out our own big-box strategy, which does include Walmart,” Lund said. “We’re positioned well. We’re coming in with products that will be distinctive against all comers in the mass retail space.”

Leap Big-Box Strategy

Leap said this month it will sell its devices through Target Corp. It began selling pay-as-you-go products under the Cricket brand at Best Buy Mobile in September.

For $30, Walmart is offering 1,000 minutes of calls, 1,000 texts and some Internet access. For $45, buyers get unlimited calls and texts nationwide, and unlimited Web access.

MetroPCS and Leap offer unlimited local calls for $30 a month. For $45, customers get unlimited local and long distance calls, Web access and text messaging.

TracFone Wireless Inc., the U.S. unit of America Movil SAB, the Mexico City-based wireless carrier controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, developed the Straight Talk service for Walmart, which will sell refill cards in stores or online.

TracFone doesn’t own a network in the U.S. and rents wireless capacity from other carriers. It has been using Verizon Wireless’s network for the Straight Talk plans it tested in Dallas and Atlanta Walmart stores.

Straight Talk’s plans undercut Verizon Wireless’s own unlimited-calling plan, which starts at $99.99 with extra charges for text messaging and Web access. Straight Talk doesn’t offer Verizon’s high-end phones, such as the Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry Pearl Flip, which Verizon sells with discounts in exchange for a contract.

Straight Talk customers can choose models from LG Electronics Inc. and Motorola Inc. starting at $59.99.

To contact the reporters on this story: Chris Burritt in Greensboro, North Carolina, at cburritt@bloomberg.net; Amy Thomson in New York at athomson6@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 14, 2009 16:14 EDT