Sprint continues to show its new aggressive stance with the rollout of a new loyalty program centered on the latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch.
The carrier said that beginning this week and running through mid-January, current customers can receive a $15 per month “loyalty credit” tied to their signing up to lease one of Apple’s latest iPhone models. The offer is available to all qualified customers that had signed up for service by Oct. 13, to one of the carrier’s Unlimited My Way, My All-in, Simply Everything and Everything Data (Share) rate plans as well as Sprint’s recently launched iPhone for Life plan. The move drops the base price of the carrier’s “unlimited” plan tied to leasing an iPhone 6 down to $55 per month.
Sprint’s iPhone leasing offer ties a customer to the carrier for a two-year period in which they make monthly payments on the device. Once the two years are up, customers can either turn in their old device and begin a new two-year lease on a new iPhone model; purchase the leased iPhone 6 or 6 Plus; continue leasing the iPhone 6 or 6 Plus on a month-to-month basis until the device is paid off; or return the device and terminate service.
Sprint noted the offer was in response to current customers not being able to take advantage of the carrier’s recently launched promotional activity.
“We want our customers to know we heard them,” explained Jim Curran, VP of base management at Sprint, in a statement. “Our long-term customers are among our most influential and passionate advocates we have and it’s important we recognize their loyalty.”
Sprint earlier this month countered a promotion by rival AT&T Mobility by doubling the amount of data available through its shared data plans, which followed previous pricing moves for its family plans.
Sprint in early August replaced long-time CEO Dan Hesse with Marcelo Claure, signaling a strong move by new owner Softbank and its chairman Masayoshi Son in his attempt to bolster Sprint’s presence in the domestic market. The carrier has since aggressively targeted its rivals with numerous rate plan changes and promotions.
Analysts expect Sprint to continue bleeding customers through at least the end of the year, though some have noted that the carrier’s nearly complete Network Vision program along with its ongoing Spark network initiative could set the carrier up for potential market share stabilization beginning in 2015.
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