Cincinnati Bell landing the iPhone 5 on August 16

Ccincinnati Bell (logo, medium)

Another regional United States telco is about to land Apple’s iPhone 5 soon.

Cincinnati Bell, the leading wireless carrier in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its nearby suburbs in the U.S. states of Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, will start offering the Apple smartphone next Friday, August 16, The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper has confirmed.

Although the device will be priced a bit higher versus other prepaid carriers, the launch festivities are said to include a nice $100 trade-in promo. I’ve included the full details after the break…

According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Bell has never offered any version of the iPhone so this will be a first for them. The move should help offset slowing growth: the carrier’s wireless subscribers in the June quarter fell to 370,000 from 430,000.

Wireless revenue continued to decline as a result, down sixteen percent to $52 million.

The company currently offers a 4G network, but “continues to evaluate whether upgrading to LTE network speeds that optimize the newest smartphones’ performance is worth the investment,” another Cincinnati Enquirer report warns.

MacRumors got hold of internal training assets that point to a higher device pricing versus other regional carriers.

Cincinnati Bell (iPhone 5 training)

Whereas U.S. prepaid carriers typically offer the entry-level iPhone 5 for $149 with a service plan, Cincinnati Bell is shooting for the $299.99 price point for the 16GB model, after a mail-in rebate on a two-year contract. By comparison, postpaid carriers typically sell the device for $199 on a two-year contract.

The training document indicates there will be an in-store $100 trade-in deal during the launch weekend of August 17-18, though it says nothing about which devices will qualify for the offer.