AT&T Texts Mobile Users About Class-action Settlement
AT&T Mobility notified its subscribers Thursday that they might be entitled to benefits from a proposed class-action settlement over alleged improper charging of Internet taxes. — Subscribers sued AT&T earlier this year …
Context & Ripple Effects
This is AT&T's second subscriber-facing settlement of 2010: back in January it paid $18 million to close out an early-termination-fee case, and now it is texting customers that they may be owed benefits under a proposed settlement with subscribers who sued earlier this year over allegedly improper Internet tax charges.
The delivery mechanism is the notable part — AT&T is using its own SMS network as the legal-notice channel, reaching every affected subscriber directly rather than relying on published notices.
First-order effects
- AT&T Mobility subscribers receive texts telling them they may be entitled to benefits from the proposed Internet-tax settlement, opening the claims window for the class.
- AT&T carries both the settlement's benefit costs and the messaging expense of notifying its base directly.
Second-order effects
- Rival carriers face pressure to audit their own line-item tax and surcharge practices before subscriber suits land on them next.
- Text-message delivery of class-action notices establishes SMS as a low-cost compliance channel, which other litigating carriers can adopt.
Third-order effects
- If carrier billing disputes keep resolving through subscriber-led class actions, the structural outcome is tighter disclosure of taxes and surcharges on wireless bills across the industry.
The trend: Wireless billing practices are increasingly contested by subscriber class actions, with carriers settling and notifying customers at scale through their own networks.