U.S. Cellular knows that satisfied customers are one of the best forms of “advertisement” there is, especially in an industry characterized by unhappy consumers—except at U.S. Cellular. U.S. Cellular works hard to keep its customers happy and does so in four major ways—through the extremely high caliber of service its dedicated associates deliver; through its competitive calling plans and products; through its pervasive distribution network of 1,800 locations; and through its high-quality network of more than 4,850 cell sites. The strategy is working: U.S. Cellular’s 1.5 percent post-pay churn rate, which measures how many post-pay customers disconnect service per month, is one of the lowest in the industry.

Not all customers are alike. Not all need the same type of service. And rather than push the most expensive or extensive plan on prospective customers, U.S. Cellular associates work with new customers to find the plan that best works for them. Faced with an increasingly complex set of options for wireless service, customers appreciate this attention to their needs.

U.S. Cellular continues to drive excellent service to ensure that its customers’ experiences exceed industry standards. In 2005, the company will open a new call center in Bolingbrook, Ill. to address increased call volumes and support U.S. Cellular’s data services offerings. The company is expanding its Knoxville, Tenn. call center as well.

Consistently high call quality is critical to customer satisfaction. U.S. Cellular’s network is one of the most reliable and high-quality wireless networks, a claim routinely supported by third-party drive tests. And the network is even better since the completion in 2004 of U.S. Cellular’s three-year comprehensive initiative to upgrade its entire network to Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 1X. CDMA 1X technology not only benefits customers in the form of improved quality, coverage and voice capacity, but it also enables the company to offer its increasingly popular easyedge(SM) wireless data services.

Looking to the future, U.S. Cellular is conducting technical trials for Evolution Data Optimized (EVDO), advanced wireless technology that provides data connections at broadband speeds. In keeping with its strategy of providing services its customers want and value, and ensuring that the company can fully support new services on all levels, U.S. Cellular is evaluating how best to proceed with this new technology.

All of U.S. Cellular’s efforts and initiatives are integrally related, all with the aim of driving increased customer sastisfaction, and ultimately, profitable growth for the company.