U.S. (uscellular.com) says it will begin carrying Apple products — namely the iPhone — later this year. The wireless carrier made the announcement as part of its quarterly earnings update.
U.S. Cellular reported service revenues of US$996.3 million for the first quarter of 2013, versus $1,023.8 million for the comparable period one year ago. Net income attributable to U.S. Cellular shareholders and related diluted earnings per share were $4.9 million and $0.06 respectively, for the first quarter of 2013, compared to $62.5 million and $0.73, respectively, in the comparable period one year ago.
“We have a number of strategies in progress to increase loyalty and attract more customers, including our announcement today that we will begin offering Apple products later this year,” Mary N. Dillon, U.S. Cellular president and CEO, said in a press release. “By further strengthening our device portfolio, we’ll give consumers another great reason to switch to U.S. Cellular, and enable our existing customers to choose from an even wider variety of iconic smartphones, and enjoy the outstanding U.S. Cellular customer experiences they deserve. Our smartphone penetration is currently 43% of core market customers and growing quickly.”
She added that U.S. Cellular is supporting this growth by bringing 4G LTE to 87% of its customers in 2013, and increasing its network capacity.