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Amp’d Mobile’s temporary reprieve

Amp'd Mobile Inc. subscribers scored a slight reprieve as the MVNO said today it will continue to offer voice calling services at least until July 31, according to a spokesperson for the troubled mobile virtual network operator.However, the MVNO is not offering its customers...

Sugar Mama reveals new advertisers, updates uptake

Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. said that its users have earned more than 9 million minutes of free airtime since the mobile virtual network operator instituted its Sugar Mama program, which offers customers the chance to receive calling minutes in exchange for watching advertisements.The opt-in...

Adderton splits from Amp’d

Peter Adderton, founder and CEO of mobile virtual network operator Amp'd Mobile Inc., has left the company he founded and subsequently guided into bankruptcy.An Amp'd representative confirmed that Adderton and the MVNO have parted ways, although Adderton is currently still on the company's governing...

STRIKE TWO FOR NEW MVNO

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Amp'd Mobile Inc. may not necessarily signal the death knell for the business model, but is certain to make investors and partners wary and put additional pressure on other fledgling mobile virtual network operators to review their own...

The Week in Review

Welcome to our new Friday feature, Week in Review. Every Friday, RCR Wireless News will run through the major events of the past week, outlining what happened and speculating on what to look for in the coming weeks. Check below for news about carriers,...

Worst of the Week: Amp’d and the pre-emptive bankruptcy strategy

Hello! And welcome to our Thursday column, Worst of the Week. There's a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCR to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way....

Analyst Angle Special Edition: Amp’d, MVNOs and future of the market

Editor's Note: Welcome to a special edition of our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We've collected a group of the industry's leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. In the coming weeks look for columns from Compete's Miro...

Deadbeat customers, Verizon Wireless’ threats led to Amp’d bankruptcy

Amp'd Mobile Inc. blamed its rapid growth, back-office systems and collection problems as the reasons for its need to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and said that nearly half of its youthful customer base were not paying their bills by early 2007, according to...

MVNO struggles continue: Amp’d files for bankruptcy protection: Company will continue operations

Mobile virtual network operator Amp'd Mobile Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection over the weekend, claiming its back-end systems have been unable to keep up with the company's rapid growth. The MVNO said in a statement that it expects to continue normal operations during the...

Helio bets on dual slider : ‘Ocean’ by Pantech will see iterations

Helio sought to capture the hearts, minds and wallets of its target market-young, affluent, tech-savvy, Web-browsing and messaging enthusiasts-by designing a handset that would deliver ease-of-use in a stylish package. Pantech, which has sought a higher profile and greater sales in the United States,...

Funambol updating open source e-mail service: Move adds broader support

Funambol plans to push ahead with its open source mobile e-mail strategy this week with an upgraded version of its white-label offering for carriers.The Redwood City, Calif.-based startup is set to unveil Funambol v6, a Java-based application that pushes e-mail to wireless devices from...

M2M market is low-churn, low-ARPU game: In U.S., carriers defer to MVNOs

Machine-to-machine communication is all about efficiency: collecting data from far-flung locations with less labor, less danger, lower power and in real-time. Thus one might conclude that the perennial drive for business efficiency would make M2M applications equally attractive everywhere. Certainly that's the promise. But...

Longs Drugs to distribute Kajeet services

Tween-focused mobile virtual network operator kajeet Inc. added more than 400 Longs Drugs stores as points of distribution for its pay-as-you-go wireless service. The Longs Drugs stores are located in California, Nevada and Hawaii. Kajeet will offer the LG Electronics Co. Ltd. LX150 handset...

Could be worse: Sprint Nextel shows improvements, gains 600,000 customers

Sprint Nextel Corp. continued to lose postpaid customers in the first quarter, but did better than analysts had expected. The carrier gained almost 600,000 net new subscribers despite continuing overall losses in postpaid customers due to fleeing iDEN users.Postpaid subs declined by 220,000, reflecting...

Virgin Mobile USA files for IPO

Virgin Mobile USA Inc., the first mobile virtual network operator to launch in the United States, filed for an initial public offering in a move that signals the maturation of the MVNO segment of the wireless market in the United States in general and...

Embarq’s strong wireless, data growth offsets landline loss

Despite a variety of one-time costs totaling $49 million, Embarq Holdings Co. L.L.C. generated $1.59 billion in revenue and $371 million in income, it announced in results for the first quarter of 2007. Among the costs that negatively affected income for the quarter was...

Telcordia, mPortal partner on content offering, Oracle demos content management service

Telcordia Technologies and mPortal Inc. are joining forces to provide an end-to-end content solution for mobile virtual network operators. The companies this week plan to unveil a platform that couples Telcordia's hosted delivery and billing services with mPortal's content library, which includes more than...

Cingular and Verizon Wireless drop kid phones

Verizon Wireless has discontinued sales of its kid-focused Migo phone, by LG Electronics Co. Ltd., while Cingular has dropped its youth-targeted Firefly device at its retail stores, as the nation's top two carriers apparently continue to figure out the potentially lucrative market for children's...

Kajeet gets SquarePants with new Nickelodeon deal

Tween mobile virtual network operator kajeet announced a deal with kid TV channel Nickelodeon, whereby kajeet will offer content from Nickelodeon on its phones and will advertise its services through Nickelodeon programs."More than one in four U.S. tweens own a cell phone, and that...

Amp’d nears 200,000 subscribers, doubles customer base during first quarter

Amp'd Mobile Inc. says it is close to reaching the 200,000 subscriber mark after a strong first quarter, numbers that indicate the mobile virtual network operator is rapidly gaining customers. Amp'd reported in January that it ended 2006 with more than 100,000 customers, and...

KDDI primed for U.S. wireless launch

Japanese wireless carrier KDDI Inc.'s American operation has moved closer to launching a mobile virtual network operator in the United States, targeting Japanese speakers in America.The carrier opened up a Web site over the weekend showing some teaser information about the service that appears...

FAMILY AFFAIR: Disney Mobile reflects on first year as MVNO

As it approaches its one-year anniversary, Disney Mobile L.L.C. has ambitious plans to develop new applications and move toward the use of EV-DO in delivering services. The company recently provided a glimpse of how its customers are making use of the innovative family-centric applications...

Disney Mobile offers peek into operations, aspirations

As Disney Mobile L.L.C. approaches its one-year anniversary, the company provided a glimpse of how customers are making use of the innovative, family-centric applications at the heart of its service. The mobile virtual network operator also proffered a look into its plans for the...

Executive Interview: Daniel Neal

Daniel Neal is CEO of kajeet Inc., a mobile virtual network operator targeting the 'tween market and aiming, as he likes to say, to "super-serve kids" with a wireless service that takes into consideration their aspirations for adult devices ("They don't want four-button kiddie...