Inflationary pressure raises cost forecasts

At & T Inc.’s CFO, Pascal Desroches stated the company may be compelled to hike mobile phone tariffs again owing to higher-than-expected costs due to inflation.

If the pressure persists, the company predicts that it will have to reconsider pricing as a possible compensation lever.

Mobile giants seize moment to change pricing policy

Verizon Communications Inc., a wireless competitor, said the price rise was in line with AT & T’s pricing hike for data-limited family plans that began in July.

Verizon and AT&T are hiking pricing on what they consider to be legacy data plans in the hopes that users will switch to higher-priced unlimited plans, and the move is also intended to spur greater adoption of 5G among consumers who are still wary of speedier connections.

“We expect to see really good margin expansion and higher margins in the second half of the year,” said John Bergmeier, legal director of the Public Knowledge political group in Washington.