Verizon and AT&T , by far the two largest US telecom operators, have come to an agreement with the GSMA to establish ground rules that block a phone from their network even if the device has eSim technology. (Credits: Jonathan Ernst)

yesterday the US authorities have opened an investigation into telecom operators ATT and Verizon, whom they suspect of agreement in the mobile.

Did they agree? US authorities have opened an investigation into telecom operators ATT and Verizon, whom they suspect of cartel deal, the New York Times reported on Friday.

This investigation was opened about five months after the seizing of the Department of Justice (DoJ) by a telecom equipment supplier and a wireless Internet access provider, the newspaper said, citing six anonymous sources. AT & T and Verizon would have reached an agreement with the World Association of Mobile Operators (GSMA), which is organizing the World Mobile Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, to support the adoption of eSim technology in the United States. United.

ESim technology actually means that consumers no longer need a physical SIM card to use their smartphone because it is replaced by a chip directly in the phone. A user of a smartphone can therefore theoretically change telecom operator without having to wait for a mail or a new SIM card to switch from one offer to another

Block the eSIM to preserve their market share?

Verizon and AT & T, by far the two largest US telecom operators, have agreed with the GSMA to establish ground rules to lock a phone to their network even if the device has eSim technology. The goal is to preserve their market share in the US market, but the Department of Justice fears that such a move is detrimental to consumers.

In February, he asked the three actors to provide him with documents related to this eSim technology, as the New York Times mentioned.

meanwhile.

VERIZON exceeds expectations in the first three months of the year

(AOF) – Telecom operator Verizon has released a quarterly performance better than expected. In the first quarter, the group announced a jump of 31.3% of its net profit, group share, to 4.67 billion, or $ 1.11 per share. Excluding exceptional items, earnings per share reached $ 1.17, up 7 cents from Reuters consensus. Revenues rose 6.6 percent to 31.77 billion while Wall Street was 31.26 billion. Verizon has recruited 260,000 new mobile subscribers with a fixed price.

For 2018, the telecom operator still aims for adjusted earnings per share up less than 5%. The telecom operator specifies that the impact of the tax reform will have an accretive impact ranging between 55 and 65 cents per share over the year. as the (AOF) says.

AT&T union prepping for a strike.

furthermore, usatoday mentioned about a major union prepping to strike against AT&T has compiled a detailed report of U.S. layoffs and call center closures that it says shows the telecom giant has violated its own post-tax reform promises.

In December, AT&T issued $1,000 bonuses to more than 200,000 employees after the tax reform bill’s passage. The company also promised to increase investment in the U.S. and, the union charges implied hiring increases.

“(AT&T CEO) Randall Stephenson has said on several occasions he was committed to raising wages and creating good-paying jobs,” she said. “We are trying to hold his feet to the fire on this. This is what you said and this is what we expect.”

In November 2017, Stephenson announced his support for the tax reform measure and, in December after its passage, said, “This tax reform will drive economic growth and create good-paying jobs. In fact, we will increase our U.S. investment and pay a special bonus to our U.S. employees.”

When it reported its fourth-quarter 2017 financials, AT&T said that tax reform helped boost the quarter’s net income to $19 billion, compared to $2.4 billion in the same period a year before.

AT&T gave out those $1,000 bonuses —  $200 million in bonus payments total — and $800 million in funding to its employee and retiree medical trust, AT&T spokesman Marty Richter says.

credit : usatoday

Also Variety titled  Media Companies Scramble to Bulk Up in Order to Survive! 

AT&T is fighting the U.S. government in court to acquire Time Warner’s content bundle of HBO, Warner Bros., and Turner. Disney chased down 20th Century Fox in a bid to transform itself as the world’s largest entertainment company embarks on its second century in business.

All eyes are on the outcome of the Dept. of Justice’s antitrust case against AT&T and Time Warner, which seeks to halt the $85 billion takeovers. If the merger goes through (albeit with certain conditions), industry observers expect it to unleash a new torrent of deal-making.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, who testified in the trial on April 18, labeled the government’s objections that the combined company would abuse its market position “ridiculous.” He seemed to suggest the DOJ doesn’t understand that the world has changed, reiterating the position that Time Warner is relatively hamstrung compared with giants like Facebook and Google when it comes to data analytics. It knows how many people watch its TV networks. “But we don’t know their names. Our direct competitors do,” he said. “They know all sorts of things that we don’t.”

Whichever way AT&T-Time Warner shakes out, boardroom machinations are already well underway among traditional players to better battle in an internet-connected world.

in another debate, the NewYorkTimes mentioned European Regulators Ask if Facebook Is Taking Too Much Data

Now regulators in Europe are asking whether Facebook is excessively collecting details about the online activities of internet users — in effect, forcibly extracting a valuable commodity from consumers.

The authorities in a number of European countries contend that Facebook has unfairly used its leverage to collect details about the activities of both Facebook users and nonusers on millions of third-party sites that use tools like Facebook’s “like” button and analytics service.

Until recently, few consumers stopped to consider the value of their personal information or how much of it they were forking over in exchange for free online services.

But the recent revelations that the voter-profiling firm Cambridge Analytica obtained the personal information of up to 87 million Facebook users have prompted more questions about the data the social media giant is collecting

Although Twitter, Google Analytics and many other services also track consumers’ online activities for advertising or website measurement purposes, German regulators singled out Facebook’s terms and conditions as inappropriate.

In two days of questioning during congressional hearings this month, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, told legislators that he did not know how many data points Facebook collected about individual users or how many non-Facebook sites the company tracked users on, and he offered incomplete answers about how the tracking worked.

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