U.S. Cellular announced a battery exchange program that will allow customers to come into any of the carrier's retail stores and change out a dead or dying battery for free. The company said in a release that it is the only wireless company offering the service.
The carrier said that U.S. Cellular phones purchased in the past 18 months are eligible for the program. A typical cell phone battery costs between $30 and $40.
The plan clearly is aimed at getting customers to stick with the carrier. U.S. Cellular had net additions of 47,000 subscribers in the first quarter, down from an increase of 73,000 in the year-ago quarter. The carrier's postpaid churn was 1.5 percent in the quarter, down from 1.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 but up from 1.4 percent in the year-ago quarter.
For more:
- see this release [1]
Related Articles:
Subscriber growth slows for U.S. Cellular [2]
U.S. Cellular posts $329M loss despite revenue jump [3]
U.S. Cellular [4] sees strong data growth
U.S. Cellular [5] beefs up ARPU but net adds slow
U.S. Cellular [6] subscriber adds increase 6%
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercewireless.com/press-releases/u-s-cellular-launches-free-battery-swap-program-0
[2] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/u-s-cellular-posts-slight-revenue-gains-subscriber-growth-slows/2009-05-06?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FW0
[3] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/u-s-cellular-posts-329m-loss-despite-revenue-jump/2009-02-26
[4] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/u-s-cellular-sees-strong-data-growth/2008-08-07
[5] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/u.s.-cellular-beefs-up-arpu-but-net-adds-slow/2008-03-04
[6] http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/u-s-cellular-subscriber-adds-increase-6/2007-11-06