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Situational Analysis: AT&T is a Fortune 500 company with 2015 revenues of $146.8 Billion (ATT, 2017). From a historical point of view it has origins in 1876 with the invention of the telephone by Alexander G. Bell. It is the world’s largest communications organization.
Vision: AT&T’s vision statement is to enable every customer to “get content on any device, any way they want it” (Bajarin, 2016).
Mission: AT&T’s mission statement relates to the way the company uses its technology to connect people – “to connect people with their world everywhere they live, work and play – and do it better than anyone else” (ATT, 2017).
Strategic objectives: AT&T has mobilized itself to become an organization that can deliver integrated communications to its customers (ATT, 2017). The company has invested in technology with high connectivity and solutions to become a leader. To help deliver an integrated video, mobile and data experience, the company has invested in high-end network infrastructure.
AT&T uses satellite, Wi-Fi, LTE, IP networks and fiber optics as the backbone to deliver their services. It offers seamless connections to any device, at any place with a fast and reliable network. AT&T also invests to serve its customers globally and offers the best cost structure due to process efficiency and productivity.
It strives to offer customers an effortless experience. To work towards this, the company empowers its employees with modern training to keep them up-to-date on latest technologies like cloud and digital. Besides this, it has a strong partnership with Ericsson and Intel to deliver 5G wireless technology in future.
Strengths: AT&T is a strong leader and the world’s leading Communications Company. The North American network connects more than 355 million people on mobile and 1 million U.S. businesses with fiber optic network. It services more than 57 million customers with high speed internet and HD and ultra HD video. It uses a GSM network which is compatible with any country in the world. It also has an exclusive partnership with Apple iPhone. The company is a leader in innovation and has a strong history and a great reputation as a leader in the business.
Weaknesses: High competition in the market place is forcing AT&T to lose leadership and markets share to players like Verizon, T-Mobile and Sprint. AT&T’s offers are not nearly competitive as compared to other industry players. It does not offer unlimited data packs like Verizon (Fuscaldo, 2017). Low Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) is also affecting profitability. In addition AT&T is losing many post-paid customers to competition. Market saturation is leading to high competitive pressures (Pressman, 2016).
Competitor Strengths: Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile are strong competitors and are offering differentiated service packs to gain market share. Verizon leads the market share with close to 35% in the mobile market in U.S. Sprint and T-Mobile are more customer friendly and offer competitive free and unlimited data packages which are helping them gain customers in a market dominated by AT&T and Verizon. Verizon uses CDMA network which limits its growth prospects globally.
Competitor Weaknesses: Verizon is more of a regional company as compared to AT&T. In terms of brand reputation too, Verizon does not score better than AT&T. The company is known to charge a premium price for its services. It is losing share to AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. T-Mobile faces challenges with respect to its low quality network and connectivity. Sprint’s network is more powerful in cities and it offers many promotions, limiting its profitability (de Looper, 2014).
Market Segments: AT&T offers services and solutions in four distinct markets segments – Business Solutions, Entertainment and Internet, Consumer Mobility and International. In terms of revenues, Business Solutions contributes the most followed by Consumer Mobility and others.
Product, Place/Distribution, Promotion, and Price Strategies:
Creating a Brand Image: AT&T is one of the world’s most enduring brands. It has created an image linked to communication and technology. It has created a distinct brand identity with a unique logo showing a fingerprint of networks.
Maintaining Brand Image: AT&T has adapted effectively to changing trends in market and consumer behavior. With the current trends in Internet of Things (IoT), the company has adopted a slogan which reflects its strategy and purpose – ‘Mobilizing Your World’.
Branding Concerns: AT&T brand concerns are related to many service outages on DirecTV and mobile networks. Many concerns have been raised with the acquisition of Time Warner.
Advertising Strategy/Objectives: The advertising strategy addresses different segments with the core proposition of ‘Mobilizing Your World’.
Advertising Execution: AT&T uses different ads for its consumer and business segments. The executions are very focused and effective, for example, the business campaign called the ‘Power of &’ (Maddox, 2016).
Public Relations/Strategies: There have been many criticisms about AT&T’s handling of PR regarding dropped calls. Many comedy shows have joked about the network and AT&T’s PR strategy needs to be refined to address such concerns effectively.
The company must aim to build customer loyalty by measuring customer attrition rates, monitoring feedback and providing competitive promotional offers. This will help in retention of customers (measurement of ARPU) and also add to the customer base with referral programs and family discounts.
References
ATT. (2017). AT&T Company Profile. att.com. Retrieved from
https://about.att.com/sites/company_profile.
Bajarin. T. (2016). The New Vision for AT&T. techpinions.com. Retrieved from
https://techpinions.com/the-new-vision-for-att/43039.
de Looper. C. (2014). Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T: Plan Comparison Illustrates
Carrier Pros, Cons. techtimes.com. Retrieved from
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/21440/20141203/sprint-verizon-t-mobile-battle-big-four.htm.
Fuscaldo. D. (2017). T-Mobile, Sprint Will Expand Market Share in 2017. investopedia.com.
Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/news/tmobile-sprint-will-expand-market-share-2017/#ixzz4WTEmwYsN.
Maddox. K. (2016). AT&T Launches Largest B-to-B Campaign in Recent History. 'Power of
&' Shows How AT&T Helps Business Customers Navigate Paradoxes. adageindia.in. Retrieved from http://www.adageindia.in/ATT-Launches-Largest-B-to-B-Campaign-in-Recent-History/articleshow/51714124.cms.
Pressman. A. (2016). Wireless Competition Hits Verizon and Why It’s Not Going Away.
fortune.com. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2016/10/20/wireless-competition-hits-verizon-and-why-its-not-going-away/
