Verizon’s $80 Unlimited Data Plan Could Signal Telecom Price Wars To Come

Verizon recently announced that it was bringing back its unlimited data offer that was scrapped five years ago, and this caused massive buzz because of the implications. Not only was the company forced to concede on this point due to increased competition, its $80 a month price could lead to a huge pricing frenzy.

For years, customers of major wireless internet providers have had to contend with companies shortchanging them on services and costs, which largely stemmed from their monopoly of the industry. Now, Verizon and AT&T are facing a reckoning with the rising influence of T-Mobile and Sprint. From this point onward, things are only going to get more heated as Wall Street is predicting a price war among carriers in the near future, USA Today reports.

One of the most telling signals that companies are going to be vying for consumer attention over the next few months with appealing price offers is the drop in shares that practically all major ISPs experienced by the time NASDAQ closed on Monday. Verizon’s dropped by a negligible 0.9 percent, while AT&T and Sprint dropped by 1.8 and 1.3 percent respectively. T-Mobile saw the biggest dip, at 2.4 percent.

Analysts are looking at this trend as the culmination of years of competition, with most of the major ISPs getting onboard the unlimited data and better services wagon. Up until its recent announcement of its own unlimited data package, Verizon was the only one left to make such an offer. It’s likely that this would have continued had T-Mobile not matched its touted internet speeds in a recent survey.

In any case, the package itself includes unlimited 4G connection, 9To5Mac reports, as well as unlimited texts and calls. The features are available with the plan that costs $80 and customers can also enjoy unlimited video streaming in full HD.