DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
U.S. Cellular Corp. (USM) has teamed with Alltel Wireless to
sell "U Prepaid" no-contract wireless service in nearly 500
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) locations starting next month.
Cellphone-service provider U.S. Cellular has been steadily
losing postpaid subscribers amid fierce competition in a wireless
industry nearly saturated with cellphones. Alltel Wireless is a
unit of Atlantic Tele-Network Inc.'s (ATNI) Allied Wireless
Communications Corp.
The U Prepaid service will run on either U.S. Cellular's
high-speed national network or Alltel's coast-to-coast network.
Customers will be able to choose from multiple data options and
plans that include unlimited talk and texting and can pick from
four devices: the Android-powered Samsung Repp, the LG Attune/LG
Exchange, LG Saber and the Samsung Chrono.
"Teaming with Alltel to gain distribution in Walmart gives us
another opportunity to be where our customers want to shop and to
offer more customers a prepaid service that helps them control
their monthly budgets," said Carter S. Elenz, U.S. Cellular's
executive vice president of sales and customer service.
Last month, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its
ratings outlook for Telephone & Data Systems Inc. (TDS) and its
U.S. Cellular unit to negative from stable, citing increased
competitive pressure at the U.S. Cellular unit.
-By Melodie Warner, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2283;
melodie.warner@dowjones.com