AT&T has upped the ante against the cable industry with a triple play bundle that includes wireless services. The move came just days after Verizon announced it would be integrating handsets with its FiOS television service.
“With the choice to bundle wireless voice, this is an offer that cable can’t match,” said Joey Schultz, AT&T’s vice president of wireline consumer marketing, in a statement.
AT&T’s “buy two, get one free” offer gives new U-verse customers who bundle the fiber-optic television service with either wireless service or digital voice free home internet service for six months. The carrier claims the deal provides a $30 monthly discount with a total savings of $180. The promotion will be available until March 20, 2010.
The offer is available now throughout Midwest U-verse markets in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio. AT&T said the triple play bundle will be made available to all AT&T U-verse markets in the coming weeks.
Verizon announced last week that it was working to tie in handsets with its FiOS television service, demonstrating the ability to turn handsets into remote controls. Verizon will roll out a program for the service in the next three months, but the capability will only work on the carrier’s small selection of Wi-Fi-enabled handsets.
As carriers are getting into the cable business, cable companies are getting into the wireless business. Clearwire investors Comcast and Time Warner have begun reselling the carrier’s mobile WiMAX service as part of their bundled offers, and digital cable provider Cox Communications is moving ahead with plans for an LTE network.
AT&T currently has 1.6 million U-verse television customers across 19 states. More than 65 percent of new U-verse TV customers bundle U-verse Voice, and more than 75 percent of U-verse TV customers have a triple- or quad-play.
