AT&T (T) sweetened its unlimited wireless data plans — offering discounts for pay-TV customers, limited laptop tethering and lower prices for customers that don't mind lower quality video — as it jostles for market positioning vs. Verizon Communications (VZ), T-Mobile US (TMUS) and Sprint (S).
AT&T lowered the price of its high-end unlimited plan by $10 to $90 monthly. AT&T also rolled out an unlimited plan for $60 monthly for one user featuring lower speeds and video quality. The low-end plan targets Sprint and T-Mobile, while the high-end plan's pricing is similar to Verizon's.
AT&T and Verizon reintroduced unlimited data plans this month amid market share gains by T-Mobile and Sprint, which aggressively pushed promotions in late 2016.
"Industry adoption of unlimited plans restricts the ability to monetize data usage, all but ensuring anemic service revenue growth for the foreseeable future," said Jeffrey Kvaal, an Instinet analyst, in a research report Monday. "We expect T-Mobile and Sprint to continue taking net add share, but the incumbents' unlimited offerings may slow gains."
AT&T stock fell 1.3% to 41.82 in the stock market today. AT&T stock is hugging its 50-day moving average and has a technical buy point of 43.13 out of a cup-with-handle base.
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Verizon stock also was down 1.3% Monday, to 49.93. Shares of Verizon are down 6% in 2017.
T-Mobile stock pared losses to end down just 0.1% at 62.17. Sprint was down 0.3% to 8.91.
Speculation that Sprint and T-Mobile could rekindle merger talks has boosted supported both stocks, though shares of T-Mobile have slipped from an all-time high of 63.92 set on Feb. 17. Sprint stock touched a 32-month high of 9.65 last month.
AT&T had previously sold unlimited-data plans only to subscribers that also bought its DirecTV or U-Verse video services. AT&T ended 2016 with nearly 8 million unlimited-data wireless subscribers.
AT&T on Monday said customers that buy unlimited wireless data plans will get a $25 monthly discount on pay-TV services.
Some analysts say the proliferation of unlimited-data offers among wireless firms could make it harder for cable TV firms Comcast (CMCSA) and Charter Communications (CHTR) to break into the wireless business. The cable-TV firms hold rights to lease access to Verizon's network on a wholesale basis, under a so-called MVNO (mobile virtual network operator_ deal.
T-Mobile added 1.2 million postpaid subscribers in Q4, including 933,000 phone subscribers. Sprint added 368,000 postpaid phone subscribers in Q4, Verizon added 167,000 and AT&T lost 67,000. AT&T has been the biggest loser of postpaid phone subscribers for two years running.
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