In the United States, a classic oligopoly market is the cell phone service market industry. The entire market is dominated mainly by Verizon and AT&T with two thirds ownership. Sprint, U.S. Cellular, and T-Mobile hold the rest of the market as primary carriers. These companies have invested heavily in the infrastructure required to run cellular networks, and as such, entry into the market is extremely cost prohibitive. The only way for a company to break into this market cost effectively, is as an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), or a MOLO (Mobile Other Licensed Operator). In these instances, the competition is not true competition, as the MVNO/MOLOs have to “rent” service from the main provider. This fact alone clearly makes the cellular market industry and oligopoly.
In its earlier days, the cellular service companies were more cooperative. At the time of A and B licensing, there was not enough spectrum to truly compete. Fast forward a decade and the market now is extremely competitive with little to no cooperation. Verizon tends to differentiate itself through having the most expensive, most current network equipment and spectrum. They bid heavily on, and won the optimal 4 and 5G spectrums and now license parts of it out to a multitude of MVNOs. AT&T is a bit more conservative, touting reliability and stability. It is not on
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Carriers often employ customer take over techniques such as contract and equipment buy out promises, and at-price financing on the latest equipment. Upper management is fiercely competitive as well, often trash talking online and using predatory marketing to downplay competition, and up play service differentiators. Unfortunately, the consumer is often caught up in these power plays, and it is up to them to sort out, through their own research, which company fits them