AT&T Gets Into Daily Deals, Groupon-Style

AT&T will now serve you with Internet, telephone service, and daily deals on your favorite local establishments.

According to Bloomberg, the broadband carrier will introduce daily sites in about a month, beginning in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Dallas-Fort Worth. The site's yellowpages.com subsidiary has announced consumers can register with a $10 credit starting today.

The Wall Street Journal adds, "The carrier, like dozens of companies before it, is testing out a service offering consumers special coupons on dining, entertainment and travel. Consumers who sign up for AT&T’s “Deal of the Day” through www.YP.com (formerly yellowpages.com) will have specials sent directly to their inbox."

AT&T enters a crowded field: the success of sites like Groupon and LivingSocial has led a whole host of competitors to enter the market for local daily deals in an attempt to replicate the magic. Groupon, at a valuation of $25 billion, is thought to be readying for an IPO later this year. Recently, mega-social network Facebook launched its own deals venture, which will focus on activities people do with, what else, their friends.

The daily deals market is projected to grow to close to $4 billion in 2015, from $1.25 billion this year, according to BIA/Kelsey. The most optimistic projections see the market growing to as much as $6 billion in the next four years. The average Internet user today subscribes to three daily or weekly shopping emails, with 56 percent subscribing to at least two.