Shaking things up is an understatement....this would only be the beginning. It would be a revolutionary move. Here is a sidebar that I am now recalling that might fit into this puzzle. I attended ATT's National Focus Conference in San Diego this past August. This conference is a yearly coming out party for ATT products and services to their large/midsize corporate customers, where they feature keynotes, workshops, and exhibits. One of the discussions that came up after one of the keynotes during the question and answer period -- was about ATT's merger with SBC and the impending acquisition of Cingular (which was in the final stages of being finalized by the FCC). There were numerous questions about customer charges for services over the ATT/SBC network. I will try to paraphrase to characterize the questions here:
1) If ATT/SBC (The New ATT) owns the network that Cingular Cellular services operate and those networks are already joined to ATT's network, then why can't we get free in-Network calling to residential ATT customers in the same way we get free in-Network calls to other Cingular customers?
2) As there are potentially three (chargeable) components to a phone call originating from a cell phone, that is airtime charges between the cell tower and the handset, network charges for voice and data that travel a hard wired conduit to either a residence or another transmitting tower where another cellular phone receives a transmitted signal. In that scenario, cellular to celluar is more expensive because of the airtime transmission. But Cingular offers it free. Customers at the conference wanted to know then why can't cellular calls originating on the new Cingular/ATT network to residential phone services be offered free if they are calling ATT residential customers?
The Execs at the conference scrambled and back-pedaled a little to try to make sense of it, but admitted there was a savings and that they would have to look into it. Admittedly, ATT brass said they had put themselves in a good position to compete with the their latest acquisitions. Conclusion: ATT can offer be very profitable while lowering their profit margins because they own the largest network in the world. They can give away network time for fractions of a cent, which makes the iPhone give away seem more plausible. However I agree with you-copernicus-the devil is in the details.
If this is true, it is really going to shake things up something fierce. Some might even call it anti-competitive as it could seriously hurt smaller companies. I have not read the articles yet, the devil is in the details of course. I can't bring myself to believe it at this point.
Cingular has the most customers.
Verizon has the greatest customer market share, no? just asking, but if so, that might suggest why they (T/Cingular) are aiming at them.