Sprint entices subscribers with $125 smartphone porting credit

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S) is trying to lure subscribers from other wireless operators with a new porting promotion, giving customers who switch to a Sprint smartphone a $125 service credit.

Click here to watch Sprint’s latest TV commercial with CEO Dan Hesse.The new promotion, which ends April 16, also gives customers a $50 credit if they switch to a non-smartphone line. Customers need to register for the credit within 72 hours of signing up for a two-year contract. The credit will appear as a lump sum within the adjustment section of subscribers' invoices.

Sprint is trying to build on the momentum it achieved in the fourth quarter, when it posted 1.1 million total net subscriber additions, including net postpaid additions of 58,000 subscribers--the carrier's first positive net postpaid additions since the second quarter of 2007. It's also worth noting that Sprint recently increased the price of its unlimited smartphone data plans by $10.

"Wireless consumers sometimes find it difficult to switch carriers because they may be under contract or have multiple lines for example," Sprint spokeswoman Roni Singleton told FierceWireless. "There are many consumers out there interested in Sprint's line of devices, 4G network and value pricing plans so promotions like this help overcome the costs in switching. It's also not unusual for Sprint to offer promotions like port-in credits from time-to-time."

Interestingly, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse is starring in a new commercial touting the company's unlimited service, while dinging the company's rivals. "The other day, I looked up the word 'unlimited' in the dictionary," he says in the ad, the 10th in which he has appeared. "Nowhere in the definition did I see words like metering, overage, or throttling, which is code for slowing you down. Only Sprint gives you true unlimited calling, texting, surfing, TV and navigation on all phones."

AT&T Mobility (NYSE:T) CEO Ralph de la Vega said earlier this month that the company now counts 10 million customers on its tiered data plans, which were introduced in June. Additionally, Verizon Wireless (NYSE:VZ) will unveil tiered mobile data pricing plans this summer, but the company is still figuring out what exactly those pricing plans will entail, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo said recently. 

For more:
- see this Sprint page
- see this Engadget post

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