Cellcom CEO Pat Riordan won’t reveal the sales numbers for the iPhone since the small Wisconsin carrier began selling the device. He will say that iPhone customers do tend to sign up for higher value voice and data plans. But at the end of the day, it’s not the numbers that really matter, but the prestige of offering the device.
The iPhone gives Cellcom a critical tool in competing against the big operators in its little swathe of eastern Wisconsin and northwestern Michigan. Cellcom prides itself in providing better service and coverage than the big national carriers, Riordan said, and that’s allowed it to grow to 300,000 subscribers in a fairly limited territory (its largest market is Green Bay, Wis.).
Customer loyalty wasn’t going to get Cellcom very far if it hadn’t been able to offer the iPhone.
“Customers were telling us they were simply going to leave us because we didn’t have the iPhone,” Riordan said. “We know our sales had been falling between the end of the year and April, and we think not having the iPhone was the reason.”
While Riordan doesn’t think Cellcom will start attracting huge amounts of customers because of the iPhone, he says it is giving current customers a reason to stay. 75% of its iPhone sales were upgrades.
The iPhone also acts as a vehicle to get new customers into the store. Many customers are lured into a Cellcom retailer by the iPhone, only to settle for an Android device.
Of seven small U.S. carriers that offer the iPhone, only two have revealed specific sales numbers for the 2nd quarter. Alaska Communications sold 11,000 iPhones, and regional competitor GCI sold 9,200. Not bad numbers considering the two carriers have 261,000 customers between them.
Many of the regional and rural players have the tools and standing to compete with the big boys in their own little corners of the market. Cellcom built its own LTE network by leasing Verizon’s 700 MHz spectrum, and offers nationwide coverage through roaming agreements.
However, by adding the iPhone to its offerings, Cellcom gave Midwesterners a final reason to take it as seriously as Verizon or AT&T.
