AT&T Pulls the Plug on Third-Party Resellers

AT&T is tightening its market, with recent announcements from some third-party retailers stating that the carrier has pulled its services and devices from their programs.

Wirefly and LetsTalk were both forthcoming about AT&T's withdrawal.

A press release from LetsTalk was the most revelatory, straightforwardly citing what caused AT&T to pull the plug on third-party resellers: "The primary reasons given for this change in AT&T's business strategy were centered around AT&T cost savings and retrenchment."

Wirefly did not give specific reasons, but referred to the loss of AT&T's coverage and products in an open letter to customers: "It is … with regret that I must inform you that effective March, 2011, we will no longer offer AT&T products and services on Wirefly.com."

How wide-ranging AT&T's retrenchment will be is not yet known, as the carrier hasn't issued its own announcement on the matter. At this point, it's not clear if retailers like Amazon will be able to offer AT&T's products.

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