US Cellular divested some of its problems, too

Here's why U.S. Cellular is getting out of the Chicago and St. Louis markets.

The markets U.S. Cellular is dumping have slightly higher value, with subscribers paying an average of $60.91 per month, compared with $53.92 per month in the core markets it's keeping. But it's the subscriber churn — the old customers who leave and have to be replaced — that matters here. The churn among traditional cellphone customers, excluding those who prepay, was 3.35 percent in the areas that U.S. Cellular is selling to Sprint Nextel Corp., compared with 1.67 percent turnover in the markets it's keeping.