It says it right in the 1/17 SRMX PR..."TriCascade expects to take delivery of One Thousand IoT SIM modules from Westron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) in January 2018" ...
AND if you care to read about the IoT partner program (which most people are avoiding), you can see for yourself that participation means that the 1000 modules from WNC is the minimum PURCHASE that the companies or individuals who APPLY to work and get accepted into the AT&T program can buy. It says so on the AT&T site. Therefore, SRMX bought the minimum -- because that's how they get the modules for product development, -- to affect this arrangement. They are not given away. Actually, though, it may have cost them more than $7500, because the minimum may cost more that larger quantities. (Access to links below)
Put what's in the PR with all the information on the AT&T website and it's easy to see that SRMX bought the minimum chips in order to have the chance to develop something for AT&T THERE IS NO LEGAL PARTNERSHIP at this time by going into this program, but they are allowed to PR the association because they are in a the development partner program -- which anyone can apply for. It's not exclusive in any way, at this point, imo, because that's not how the IoT development program works, and if SRMX had something other, they would provide more details.
It's all in black and white (color, actually) for everyone to see -- but no one really wants to see it.And the info on the AT&T site lays it all out.
Educated conclusion: There is a partnership with AT&T, but it's not as big yet as SRMX made it out to be. It is as described on the AT&T website which the above link shows.