US Cellular 2011 Annual Report Download - page 4

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Increasing Smartphone Sales
and Data Use
As customer demand for smartphones and data
services continues to rise, U.S. Cellular is
increasing smartphone penetration by offering
a competitive range of Android®-, Windows
Mobile®- and BlackBerry®-based devices,
including smartphones, tablets and modems,
at a variety of price points.
At the end of 2011, smartphone customers were
30 percent of our postpaid base, compared to
17 percent at the end of 2010. And smartphones
were 52 percent of total devices sold in the
fourth quarter of 2011, and 44 percent of devices
sold in the year. This drove corresponding growth
in data use—and in adoption of higher-revenue
data plans—which, along with data roaming
revenues, led to higher average revenue per
customer. Despite the sharp increase in
smartphones sold, U.S. Cellular effectively
managed subsidies through a balanced mix of
lower- and higher-cost devices.
As the industry moved toward tiered data
pricing, we prepared to introduce our own tiered
plans in 2012, including entry-level plans to
encourage customers to upgrade to their first
smartphones.
Ensuring Outstanding Communications
Experiences
Even though growth in data use has significantly
increased traffic across our network, we kept
pace with that growth and received our twelfth
consecutive award for wireless call quality from
J.D. Power and Associates in 2011, and received
our thirteenth award in early 2012.
In conjunction with our partner, King Street
Wireless, we also prepared our 4G LTE network
and devices to support demand for data services
and provide faster and more satisfying data
experiences, while significantly reducing the cost
to carry data traffic.
We also added capacity to our 3G network and
strengthened overall network capacity and
coverage by adding 237 new cell sites.
“Highest Network Quality Performance
Among Wireless Cell Phone Users in
North Central Region”
– J.D. Power and Associates
2 U.S. CELLULAR
SMARTPHONE CUSTOMERS AS A
PERCENTAGE OF POSTPAID CUSTOMERS
12/10 3/11 6/11 9/11 12/11
30%
26%
23%
20%
17%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0
AVERAGE MONTHLY REVENUE
PER POSTPAID CUSTOMER
12/10 3/11 6/11 9/11 12/11
$51.84
$51.21
$50.99
$60
$50
$40
$30
$20
$10
0
$53.35
$52.41