AT&T offers rewards for referring customers to Aio Wireless prepaid brand

AT&T Mobility's (NYSE:T) prepaid brand Aio Wireless is offering $25 rewards to customers who refer others to the service. The offer comes as AT&T is working to close its deal to acquire Leap Wireless (NASDAQ:LEAP) and Leap's Cricket prepaid brand.

According to Aio's website, the service is giving $25 "Referral Rewards" to customers and their friends, with the ability to earn up to $250 annually. Aio urges customers to "submit email addresses for friends or family members who you think would love Aio." The program then sends those friends and family an email with a referral code they can use after they activate new service. Once the referral code is activated, both the recipient and the sender are eligible for the $25 reward. The rewards will be a service credit to a customer's Aio account.

It's unclear how long the promotion will last or why it is being instituted now. An Aio spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The offer is notable considering AT&T has said it plans to shutter the Aio brand after it closes its acquisition of Leap. AT&T has said it plans to rebrand its Aio service with the Cricket brand at some point after the close of its acquisition of Leap. However, details of this move are unclear, including when the switch will happen and exactly what kinds of services a combined Aio and Cricket would offer.

AT&T expects its acquisition of Leap to close sometime during the first quarter of 2014.

Aio representatives have said that AT&T's Leap deal will make Aio even better. After the deal is approved, all Aio stores will be rebranded under the new Cricket brand. Aio has said under the Cricket brand, Aio customers will not see changes in their network coverage, and will not need to change their devices or phone numbers. Aio's service uses AT&T's HSPA+ and LTE networks.

For more:
- see this Aio post

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