In this article:
- Inflationary pressure is causing businesses to push up prices
- Verizon may raise prices on wireless plans
- AT&T recently made price hikes on older plans
Consumers have already seen prices for things like groceries and gas increase, but another price hike could be on the horizon.
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Verizon is reportedly exploring increasing the price of its wireless offerings in response to inflation, which has seen prices for goods and services rise across the United States. AT&T has seen its costs tick up resulting in their decision to hike up its prices.
While Verizon has yet to confirm or outline what the price increases would look like, some options could be a higher-priced unlimited tier or new fees. The price escalation is still expected to be lower than the changes that AT&T made.
AT&T has already announced that it’s hiking prices on older plans known as Unlimited and Mobile Share plans. Single-line plans will cost $6 more, while family plans will go up as much as $12. Those new prices are expected to roll out June 1, 2022. Current plans won’t be affected. AT&T is hoping that the price shifts will push current AT&T customers to explore other AT&T plans.
Some analysts are suggesting that AT&T’s price increases opened the possibility for Verizon to do the same. But T-Mobile did something different, revealing a series of bundles designed to encourage people from breaking up with the current carrier and joining T-Mobile. A little over two years ago, T-Mobile merged with another low-cost carrier Sprint, becoming a more significant competitor in the wireless world.
All three major providers–AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile–have said that labor costs have squeezed their business. In April 2022, AT&T said that higher wages have pushed its broader costs up by $1 billion. T-Mobile and Verizon, meanwhile, have recently started raising their minimum wage to $20 in order to attract workers.
Inflation has been on a steady rise throughout the pandemic. The rate of inflation reached 8.5% in March 2022, the highest level in roughly 40 years.
Businesses are seeing costs go up due to factors like the war in Ukraine, supply-chain issues, and a labor shortage. Raising prices on consumers is one way companies like Verizon and AT&T are managing to retain a profit.