AT&T undercuts Verizon, T-Mobile with new unlimited plan – CNET (Feb 27, 2017)
I think there’s actually more going on with these new plans than most of the coverage I’ve seen suggests. Firstly, the unlimited plan AT&T currently sells is going away as an option for new customers, so these two new plans are AT&T’s unlimited offer going forward. Secondly, I suspect it’s also going to lead with these over its tiered data plans going forward, even though those tiered plans will remain available for at least a while. What’s really happened here is that AT&T jumped in quickly by opening up its existing unlimited offer two weeks ago when Verizon opened that can of worms, but this is the offer it really wants to put in the market from here on out. And that’s important, because when AT&T opened up its offer, that had two implications: no more benefits from bundling AT&T and DirecTV service, which had been an important driver of net adds for DirecTV, and a cap on revenue per user for those switching to unlimited. These new deals restore the benefit for bundling with DirecTV (it’s now a $25 bill credit every month), and provide a structure which allows for an up-sell over time between two tiers of unlimited service. That allows AT&T to continue to differentiate on its unique selling point, which is wireless-TV bundles, while also creating the idea that all unlimited isn’t created equal. For now, there’s basic unlimited with SD video and a 3Mbit/s speed cap, and then premium unlimited with tethering, the bundle discount, and HD video. That opens the door to other unlimited tiers or options down the line as well, and therefore increasing ARPU over time. I do think competitors are going to aim at that 3Mbit/s speed cap in their advertising, and if you look at the details of these plans they’re still overly complex, but these new plans should definitely help AT&T sell both more wireless and TV subs.
via CNET
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