Sprint half-price promotion targets AT&T, Verizon customers

Sprint Corp. is taking the price skirmish directly to Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. with a promise to cut customer bills in half for those that switch from its larger rivals.

Verizon and AT&T customers who provide a copy of their bill at Sprint stores starting Dec. 5 will be offered a gift card for as much as $350 to cover phone costs and early termination penalties if they leave their carrier. They will then be matched
 with a similar service plan from Sprint for half the price.

The  “cut your bill in half” event is the latest move by new Sprint chief executive  Marcelo Claure to end more than seven years of customer losses at the struggling No. 3 U.S. carrier. Since he was hired in September, the CEO has
announced a management shuffle and the elimination of 2,000 more jobs as he targets the lowest cost of service among the top four wireless operators.

Customers of fourth-ranked T-Mobile US Inc. and existing Sprint users are not eligible for the half-price offer. The new plan, which is a limited-time promotion, builds on Sprint’s earlier offer to double the data allotment of other carriers for the
 same price.