Verizon and AT&T Fight Against Claim of Price Hike

AT&T and Verizon Wireless have stated quite plainly in their testimony that neither company colluded to raise prices as claimed by the U.S. lawmakers that they worked together to set artificially high prices for text messages.
According to Reuters, The companies say that text message price hikes made last year affect only 1 percent of sent messages because most consumers have text message bundle plans.
The high prices of text messaging are not due to collusion or anti-competitive behavior from the major mobile carrier, according to testimony from AT&T and Verizon before a Senate subcommittee. In fact, say the carriers, prices are actually lower when you consider most customers pay a monthly fee for bulk messages.
The whole issue started last fall, when the head of the antitrust sub-commitee, Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), sent a letter to the CEOs of Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile asking why text prices for all four companies had doubled from 10¢ to 20¢ shortly after mergers reduced the number of major mobile carriers from six to four.