The colossal price hike claim was mentioned in email evidence in AT&T’s case, alleging Broadcom hasn't honoured a contract that would allow the carrier to acquire an additional two years of support services for VMware.
The email was penned by AT&T executive vice president and general manager Susan A Johnson and appears to be addressed to Broadcom CEO Hock Tan.
"After a 10-plus year strategic relationship with Broadcom … I am sad to report that we appear to be at an impasse on our VMware deal," Johnson wrote on August 19.
"This proposed annual increase of +1,050 percent in one year is extreme and certainly not how we expect strategic partners to engage in doing business with AT&T."
Another filing, which details the views of Vice President of Global Technology and Operations David J Brickhaus, rebuts Broadcom's assertion that AT&T uses a lot of old and unsupported VMware software. Brickhaus admits AT&T uses some end-of-life code, but only on three per cent of its servers that don't run mission-critical software and can't be upgraded to newer VMware products.
Brickhaus accuses Broadcom of mischaracterising AT&T's migration plans.
"My team and others at AT&T have been exploring a possible migration away from the VMware software since Broadcom announced in December 2023 that it would force customers to employ a new, more costly subscription model for its VMware software licenses," the filing reads.
AT&T vice president of global technology planning, Gordon Mansfield said that choosing a VMware alternative, testing and then rolling it out could take years.
He complained that Broadcom had made it do so “since we understand that they are preventing some vendors from selling certain products to us."
The case has yet to begin, and this is just some evidence made public.