AT&T is now in discussions with Apple Inc. to get an extension of AT&T's exclusive on the iPhone until 2011, the Wall Street Journal reports. AT&T also is seeking to overhaul AT&T's marketing to make wireless the priority. Ultimately, that likely will mean that customers can qualify for AT&T discounts on IPTV or broadband access if they are a wireless customer, where tradtionally AT&T has tied discounts to being a wireline voice customer.
AT&T has 77 million wireless customers and 30 million consumer voice lines.
The intensified focus on wireless shows just how much is changing in the world of former wired telephone companies. Where once most telcos were very similar in terms of services offered, customer base and strategy, firms are becoming quite differentiated. Verizon and AT&T have options, footprints and business segments quite distinct from those of virtually all other U.S. carriers.
The big challenge is what wired network providers without the scale and wireless assets of those two firms will fashion their business strategies.
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