WASHINGTON-Online reseller InPhonic Inc. said it signed a letter of intent to sell certain assets of its Liberty Wireless and Spanish language Viva Liberty mobile virtual network operator services to Vaya. Under the terms of the agreement, Vaya will acquire the Liberty Wireless and Viva Liberty brands and customer base.
InPhonic said Liberty Wireless and Viva Wireless have “tens of thousands” of subscribers but declined to be more specific. One industry analyst put InPhonic’s MVNO customer base at more than 100,000 subscribers.
InPhonic launched Liberty Wireless in 2002 and Viva Wireless earlier this year. Both MVNOs use Sprint Nextel Corp.’s CDMA network.
InPhonic noted that customers should not experience any change in service, billing or coverage and that Vaya would continue to use InPhonic’s mobile virtual network enabler platform on a per-unit software license basis. Vaya reportedly has experience operating international carriers and is expected to announce its plans for Liberty and Viva Wireless in the near future.
InPhonic added that its MVNO business represented 6 percent of its total revenues this year and that it plans to focus more of its future operations on its MVNE operations.
“The sale of Liberty Wireless combined with the new software licensing relationship would mark a significant milestone for InPhonic as we transition our MVNO business unit from a subscriber- to a software-based business,” explained David Steinberg, chairman and chief executive officer of InPhonic. “Vaya’s acquisition of Liberty would allow InPhonic to focus on growing both its core wireless and activation services and MVNE business units while dramatically simplifying group management and improving operational efficiencies across the company.”
