U.S. Cellular move to entice new customers hits $1,000 in value with the addition of free premium Slacker Radio service for 1 year
U.S. Cellular bolstered its “bonus” package to new customers porting in service from rivals, now offering the lure of premium Slacker Radio service for one year.
The bonus package, which the carrier launched last month, now totals $1,000 in incentives for customers migrating from another carrier. The package includes a $300 “switcher” credit, two gigabytes of bonus data per month over a two-year period valued at $480, a $100 accessory discount toward the purchase of headphones or speakers, and now the $120 value of the premium Slacker Radio service.
To take advantage of the package, customers must port their number from another carrier, trade in their old device, purchase a new device from U.S. Cellular using an equipment installment plan and a device protection option, and sign up for a Shared Connect rate plan of at least 3 GB of unthrottled data per month.
U.S. Cellular launched the promotion on the heels of reporting disappointing first-quarter financial results. The carrier managed to post modest customer growth with approximately 57,000 net connection additions for the quarter compared to just 21,000 net connection additions for the same period last year, as well as improved customer churn numbers.
However, the growth came at a cost as postpaid average revenue per user slipped $6.74 year-over-year to $48.13 per month in Q1 2016, while postpaid average billing per user dropped $2.44 to $56.06. The spending slump resulted in a 1% drop in operating revenue, which came in at $965 million for the latest quarter. Combined with a 34% increase in operating expenses, the results led to a steep drop in net income from $160 million last year to just $9 million this year.
U.S. Cellular’s stock (USM) plunged more than 12% on the news to as low as $35.66 per share, and has since been on a roller-coaster ride, trading at around $38.34 per share early Wednesday.
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