My hope would be that even if the slap is laughably small for the current offense, the thread of larger fines for continued action would be a deterrent to keep going.
My limited experience with legal issues at large companies is that once a precedent has been set for legally risky behavior, the organization becomes extremely averse to approaching that behavior again (due to optics, legal complications, etc.). AT&T doesn't strike me as a company that cares all that much about the optics from citizen customers (as opposed to business customers), but being found to be a serial violator, i would hope, would have larger consequence.
This is why corporate fines should be based on percentages of global gross revenues, with minimums and no caps.
If your company might get fined and lose 5% of their global gross revenue for being a repeat offender, that’s likely to be a much stronger incentive.
Especially if those fines double in percentage for every repetition of the infraction.
My limited experience with legal issues at large companies is that once a precedent has been set for legally risky behavior, the organization becomes extremely averse to approaching that behavior again (due to optics, legal complications, etc.). AT&T doesn't strike me as a company that cares all that much about the optics from citizen customers (as opposed to business customers), but being found to be a serial violator, i would hope, would have larger consequence.