AT&T Wireless is the leading wireless telecommunications provider in the US market. The US wireless market constitutes over 243M wireless subscribers. This represents a market penetration of 81%. The wireless market sells mobility of voice and data (video-media, download content and internet access).
The wireless market is distributed between the following major competitors and distinguishing technology.
AT&T- TDMA,GSM, UMTS/HSPDA
Verizon Wireless – CDMA, EV-DO
Sprint-Nextel- CDMA, EV-DO
T-mobile - GSM, UMTS
Upon the acquisition and merger of legacy AT&T Wireless by Cingular Wireless and the solidification of SBC, BellSouth and Cingular Wireless, the New AT&T mobility business unit now leads in the current market share narrowly over Verizon Wireless.
Figure 1
AT&T 27.1%, Verizon 26.3%, Sprint-Nextel 23.6%, Other 11.9%, T-mobile 11.1%. Source Forrester Research December 2007.
MASTER STRATEGY
The Master Strategy for AT&T wireless is to be the only telecom provider their customer would ever need by connecting its customers anywhere – anyway.
COST- AT&T is adequate in this regard. It is positioned to offer competitive pricing to the numerous services it offers. Rollover Minutes, Family Unity Plan
DIFFERENTIATION- AT&T’s exclusive agreement to market and sell the iPhone with Apple Corporation has differentiated itself from its competitors. Utilization of its vast spectrum to offer video conferencing service (video share).
NICHE- AT&T has not engaged in niche market.
The following are the supporting Strategies:
MARKETING STRATEGY
Geographic Coverage- AT&T is positioning itself to be the leader in wireless coverage, identified by the move in the Global markets.
Mix Intensity- AT&T is a leader in wireless products and services by offer voice PTT, voice –IP, video share, HSPDA.
Channel Exposure- AT&T is adequate in its point of sales. They intend to match most competitors in using Radio Shack, BEST Buy, Walmart, Mall locations, high visible real estate traffic.
Service/Satisfaction- AT&T has settle to be adequate in Customer Service by changing is “Customer Rules” to just “Earning Industry Leading Retention”. Although they have made tremendous strides in reducing their churn from 2.1% to 1.6% in two years validating their commitment to provide a better system to their customers after the merger.
Channel Control- adequate
Switching Costs- AT&T allows number portability and maintains the industry practice of 2-year contract commitments. They are adequate in this regard.
Branding/Promotion – AT&T is leading to be the only telecommunication company their customers need by connecting people better than anyone else.
TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY
The merger between Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless created the largest footprint of any wireless carrier. This merger also established the largest spectrum holding of any wireless carrier of 59 Mhz .
The company that I have chosen is Comcast Cable Company. Currently, Comcast is the leader in the home entertainment industry. Comcast offers their customer's: cable television, internet service, home phone service, television screaming app, home security, and mobile service. The company is working to compete with AT&T/ Direct TV, Dish Network, Hulu, Netflix and sling Tv. The competitors do offer cheaper service, but Comcast is known mostly for its great internet service. Xfinity Instant TV and Xfinity Mobile are the newest product that has been launched by Comcast. Xfinity Mobile has two phone plans, and you must have Xfinity internet service. Xfinity Mobile plans are: By the Gig data and Unlimited data. The By the
Verizon Wireless cellular service is inelastic because the products and services it offers makes them the dominant leader in the wireless industry; therefore, a 10% change in calling plan prices (monthly access fees) would not affect the quantity demanded. Verizon Wireless can depend on this inelasticity in their pricing model because of the strength of its brand and the wealth of products and services it offers. Verizon Wireless' competitive advantage comes from its ultra-low churn rate (the percentage of customers who disconnect their service is less than one percent of its 60 million customer base). This indicator suggests that customers are satisfied with the service Verizon Wireless offers and a slight price increase probably would not drive its customers to the competition. This data also suggests that customers probably stay with Verizon Wireless because of its continued expansion of new technologies and services such as its all-digital nationwide CDMA network, EVDO' or its advanced data network (used to wireless send and receive email and other data almost anywhere in the US), and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) that they use for their Push to Talk products. Verizon Wireless markets to a nearly all demographics nationwide and most of its services are offered in the smaller rural markets as a direct result of the one billion dollars per quarter it spends on improving its network as well as acquiring smaller wireless networks to make their nationwide network stronger and larger.
Verizon has many advantages and is a great company to switch to. I have heard so many recommendations about Verizon and I read a bunch of facts about it and wouldn't want to have any other company, coming from someone who's had Sprint for 10 years not being able to connect in several different places. Having Verizon allows you contact people everywhere you are. So overall, Verizon is the better company and it’s something people should know
AT&T diversifies it’s promotions to grab different customers. AT&T is still in the market to grab every single customer out there. The same as Verizon it pops up different promotions, but AT&T has different promotions for different likes. It has a promotion for music, Samsung Galaxy, family plans, TV packages. Immediately on clicking on the AT&T the first thing that pops up is plans for every single device. Same thing as Verizon, AT&T has people smiling with their devices showing how happy they are with AT&T and their service.
Scope of competitive rivalry: primarily major carriers (revenue more than $1 billion). Legacy carriers developing low-cost offshoots
In conclusion, AT&T has become more organized and improved its tactics to target the younger consumer of their products by adding IM, internet and text messaging to their plans. Even landline connection free due to the Unity Plan and the rollover minutes can make your life more talkative and productive. They also have increased their profit by extending their name to your TV when you purchase U-verse. And now you can make your decision. Wouldn’t you be more comfortable with AT&T products to comfort your life?
In conclusion, current trends and significant events concerning T-Mobile were examined. A hard look was given to the economy, demographics, technology, political and legal issues, and social characteristics. T-Mobile is strong across the board, with surprising statistics backing up a variety of topics. The economy is strong, the demographics are not far-fetched, technology is improving, there’s no huge political or legal scandal, and T-Mobile is socially strong.
McLean, Prince. "Apple defends AT&T, downplays talk of multi-carrier inevitability." Apple Insider. Apple Insider, 13 Mar 2010. Web. 14 Mar 2010. .
The changes in the technological can influence many part of societies. When the AT&T Company introduce their new product and services which is wireless and wire line technology will effects occur primarily through the new products, processes, and materials. Thus, changes in technological also often can achieve higher market share and earn higher return because, newly emerging technology from AT&T could derive competitive advantages. For example, internet today becoming more remarkable capability to provide information easily, quickly, effectively, and also can create more value for customer in the future and to anticipate future trends.
The company provides great benefits intended to contribute to keep employees motivated to succeed. Through random surveys and employee satisfaction questionnaires, the company is better able to effectively concentrate on employee satisfaction. The company’s website provides proof of employee satisfaction. AT & T has been identified:
Overall employees of AT&T view the company as a great place to work. Interviews were held with the following company employees: Gary Cohen, a Retail Sales Assistant Manager, Jeremy Macwan, a Retail Sales Consultant, and Andrew Ramirez, also a Retail Sales Consultant. The company has found there are strengths and weaknesses of being retail store employees in AT&T’s company owned locations.
Williams, P. & Naumann, E. 2011, "Customer satisfaction and business performance: a firm-level analysis", The Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 20-32.
The telecommunications industry is of vital importance to the development of the information-based economy. AT&T need to supply access to cost efficient, timely and innovative telecommunications services.
Telecommunications gained mainstream attention in the early 90’s; however the initial key market was business men and women, who used their phones whilst being on the move and so allowing them to communicate with their companies with ease. Though in the modern era, telecommunication went through segmentation in the market trends, and now in this day and age it would be difficult to find someone who does not own some form of mobile technology. Many phone providers battle to provide the best service for their customers (Figure 1).
Vodafone is the world's largest mobile telecommunications community, employing over 65,000 staff and with over 130 million customers. The business operates in 26 countries worldwide. Vodafone is a public limited company with listings on the London and New York stock exchanges.