T-Mobile did indeed turn to the stock market in its latest Un-carrier 11 event, though it also offered up free snacks and in-flight Wi-Fi
T-Mobile US leaned heavily on customer loyalty for its latest “Un-carrier 11” event, rolling out free weekly deals on snacks and movies, bolstering its in-flight arrangement with Gogo and offering up company stock to subscribers.
Most details of the event had been reported prior to the official unveiling, with the only unreported aspects being some finer points and the deal with Gogo.
The event did indeed include a customer loyalty program tied to a downloadable T-Mobile Tuesdays application, which provides for free items each Tuesday to all customers on a T-Mobile US branded monthly plan with voice service. Initial free items available include a medium two-topping pizza from Domino’s, a movie from Vudu and a frosty from Wendy’s. T-Mobile US said it would be adding other special offers each Tuesday.
The more interesting giveaway involves the carrier’s stock, which has been trading at around $43 per share. The deal provides each current primary contact on a T-Mobile US postpaid account with one share in the carrier, while all new customers coming from a rival operators and signing up for a line of postpaid service will also receive one share. Current customers who have been with T-Mobile US for more than five years will receive two shares for each recommended new line of service.
To earn the initial giveaway, customers will need to download the carrier’s T-Mobile Tuesday application. Once downloaded, customers will then need to sign up with web-based investing service Loyal3 at which point they will be provided with a single T-Mobile US share. Customers will have up to 15 days to claim their stock once it’s made available.
Customers can then earn an additional share of company stock for each new activated line of service they recommend that is ported in from a rival. Customers can earn up to 99 new shares each calendar year through the recommendation process. The additional shares are offered outside of the downloadable application.
T-Mobile US counted more than 30 million branded postpaid phone connections at the end of the first quarter, with an average of 2.59 lines per account, meaning it could be on the hook for up to 11.5 million shares if all of its current customers take advantage of the program, or roughly $500 million in equity.
As for the Gogo in-flight enhancement, T-Mobile US said starting June 13, its customers will have one hour of in-flight Wi-Fi access on Gogo-equipped domestic flights. The move is in addition to the previously launched in-flight text messaging service unveiled in 2014, which has itself been bolstered with support for instant messaging platforms from Apple, Google, WhatsApp and Viber. Gogo claims its service is available on more than 4 million flights per year.
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