An antitrust investigation into potential coordination between AT&T, Verizon, and a telecommunications standards organization has been opened by the Justice Department. The investigation focuses on the possibility that these companies may be working together to hinder consumers from easily switching wireless carriers.
Demands were issued earlier this year to AT&T, Verizon, and the G.S.M.A., a mobile industry standards-setting group, for potential collusion to thwart a technology known as eSIM. eSIM lets people remotely switch wireless providers without having to insert a new SIM card into a device. AT&T and Verizon face accusations of working with G.S.M.A. to establish standards allowing them to lock a device to their network, even with eSIM technology present. Little has been said by the Justice Department, Verizon, AT&T, and even Apple regarding the accusations; one Verizon spokesman said the issues was “much ado about nothing” while an AT&T spokesman said the company was working to “move this issue forward”. G.S.M.A. hasn’t stayed as quiet, admitting to developing the eSIM standard, but putting it on hold pending the current investigation, fully cooperating with the Justice Department during this time.
To learn more about the heart of this investigation, whether wireless carriers worked with G.S.M.A to secretly try to influence mobile technology to unfairly maintain their dominance, visit here.
