AT&T and Verizon say they won't play...
Well, are my hopes for a price war on cell service dashed?
Now that Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile have announced plans to offer $99, all-you-can-eat cellphone service, the concern is that another player -- Sprint Nextel (S) -- might undercut them, sparking an industry-wide pricing war. Not happening, AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) execs say. Their reasoning: Their service is better, so people will pay more for it.
"We're never going to chase price for people who don't offer the same value of product that we have," AT&T's telecom head John Stankey said at Merrill Lynch's telecom stock conference today.
Stankey echoes similar remarks that Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg made at the conference yesterday.
"I think our customers are gonna look for a little more than just price," Seidenberg said. "Are we going to chase price? I don't think we have to. I don't think we ever have, and we never will."
We wish both men the best, but if Sprint cuts unlimited-access plans to $60-$80, as some have suggested it might, Verizon and AT&T could have a tough time selling theirs for $100, no matter how good their service is.
Maybe we should all switch to Sprint PCS should they drop their price. I was a happy Nextel two-way customer for a long time...
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