US Cellular 2015 Annual Report Download - page 4

We plan to grow by focusing on what our customers desire:
competitive pricing and promotions that showcase our
high-quality฀4G฀LTE฀network.฀Supporting฀this฀effort,฀we฀are฀
redesigning our stores into retail destinations that can
enhance the customer experience and further boost sales.
We successfully repositioned our company to grow our
customer base again, even in the face of a very
competitive wireless market. We saw a steady and
meaningful improvement in our churn levels as we
delivered high levels of customer satisfaction. We also
continued฀to฀see฀former฀customers฀return฀to฀U.S.฀Cellular,฀
representing approximately 20% of new accounts.
We continue to manage our expense levels, which
contributed to stronger margins and growth in operating
cash฀fl฀ow฀in฀2015.฀Growing฀our฀customer฀base฀and฀
revenue also is crucial to improving our margins and
profi tability. We see opportunity for revenue growth with
further smartphone penetration allowing us to monetize
data usage. In addition, sales of our Shared Connect data
plans create more devices per account. These plans, and
the increasing use of connected devices like tablets by
our customers, drive them to choose larger data buckets
resulting in revenue growth.
The฀rapidly฀growing฀small฀and฀medium฀business฀(SMB)฀
market and regional government agencies are a natural
fi฀t฀for฀U.S.฀Cellular฀given฀our฀local฀focus.฀We฀have฀
reorganized our sales channel and expanded our
business pricing portfolio to include shared data and
machine-to-machine฀offerings.฀As฀the฀needs฀of฀our฀SMB฀
customers฀grow,฀we฀continue฀to฀expand฀our฀Business฀
Solutions Product Catalog with products like
international roaming, fl eet management applications,
wireless priority service, and more.
U.S.฀Cellular฀exists฀to฀provide฀exceptional฀wireless฀
communication services which enhance consumers’ lives,
increase the competitiveness of local businesses, and
improve the effi ciency of government operations in the
mid-sized and rural markets we serve.
As a mid-sized operator, we seek to use our relatively
smaller size to our competitive advantage. This starts
with a network that provides high-quality services
in฀the฀“Middle฀of฀Anywhere”฀and฀is฀complemented฀by฀
our associates, who take a more personal approach
to knowing and serving our customers. This local focus
is a unique differentiator that allows our associates to
deliver outstanding customer service by treating
customers like neighbors, not numbers.
We achieved two important goals in 2015: we reignited
customer growth and improved profi tability, laying the
foundation for continued success.
Operating on a network quality foundation
In 2015, we continued our investment in our network
to provide more capacity to meet growing demands for
data services and to provide better in-home coverage.
With฀4G฀LTE,฀we฀can฀provide฀our฀customers,฀even฀in฀the฀
more remote rural areas, with all the benefi ts of our
data services, also creating new growth opportunities
for฀us.฀We฀secured฀4G฀LTE฀roaming฀agreements฀with฀
national carriers to further enhance our customers’
data experience.
Building฀on฀the฀strength฀of฀our฀newly฀completed฀4G฀LTE฀
network, we are further refi ning our network strategy and
are฀planning฀to฀begin฀the฀multi-year฀rollout฀of฀VoLTE.฀
We฀are฀designing฀VoLTE฀to฀bring฀even฀more฀quality฀
products and services to our customers over the next few
years, and increase our fl exibility to pursue attractive new
revenue opportunities.
Reigniting customer growth
Customer growth has been and will continue to be
our number one priority. We are proud of our 2015
accomplishments and excited about our prospects,
even while acknowledging that adding new customers
is increasingly diffi cult in the wireless industry.
Completing the 4G LTE
deployment was the
culmination of a four-
year effort, and one of
our major priorities for
the year.
2 TELEPHONE AND DATA SYSTEMS