The Rise Of Discount Mobile Operators
Again, this seems like the type of thing a wireless carrier should have already predicted was going to happen, but now we've got articles warning wireless carriers that the rise of discount carriers are a threat to their business. You really have to hope this isn't a surprise to anyone in the industry. If you're in business, you always need to be aware of the risk of someone coming in and undercutting your price. The question then, is whether or not the existing companies can compete on price (perhaps by being more efficient and having lower costs) or by offering additional value added services that people value enough to pay an additional amount for. So far, many of the major wireless carriers haven't shown the ability to do much of either (be efficient or offer value added services that people actually want). If anything, hopefully the rise of discount providers will drive the established carriers to figure out how to do one or both of those things.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
