An AT&T executive on Tuesday grilled rival Sprint because the wireless operator plans to rely on more roaming in parts of Oklahoma and Kansas in order to cut costs.
The areas most affected will be south-central Kansas and central Oklahoma, Sprint spokeswoman Melinda Tiemeyer recently told the Kansas City Business Journal.
Another Sprint spokesperson, Tom Cook, told the Oklahoman that Sprint's decision reflects a cost-cutting measure for a carrier that is seeing rising smartphone sales and higher data usage from customers.
Bob Quinn, AT&T Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory and Chief Privacy Officer, questioned Sprint's logic in a blog posting.
"If its customers are using more data, don't you think it would be logical for Sprint to actually use its cash to build more capacity?" Quinn wrote. "I mean, at AT&T we have spent a lot of time and money investing in recent years, racing to keep up with our subscribers' surging broadband demands precisely because those demands are growing so rapidly. Verizon has been doing the same in building its own 4G LTE network. But at Sprint, the logic is different, and investment – Sprint investment – does not appear to be the solution. My guess is that Kansas and Oklahoma represent the tip ... of the iceberg here."
Asked Wednesday morning by email for a comment on Quinn's remarks, Tiemeyer did not immediately respond.
The good news for Sprint customers in Oklahoma and Kansas is that most plans today already include roaming, meaning the majority of customers won't get smacked with bigger bills.
"A lot of customers won't even notice any difference in call quality or changes on their bill," Cook told the Oklahoman, which reported that the changes are effective March 1.
Quinn's remarks reflect the apparent enmity between AT&T and Sprint, which vociferously opposed its rival's now dead $39 billion merger with T-Mobile USA.
