Mobile Phones Forum

Back in the early days of Engadget, everyone -- including us -- thought mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) were totally poised to be the next big thing. And why not? You get to be a wireless carrier without having to operate your own infrastructure (which is by far the most expensive, difficult part). Just what the doctor ordered for the big, stodgy wireless carriers, each struggling to balance differentiating themselves while trapping their customers in their walled content and services gardens.Little did we all know that the differentiation most of these MVNOs had in mind was slapping their lame brand on some existing phone that people could get sooner, cheaper, and often with a better plan on one of the major carriers. Even Helio, the one MVNO that managed to keep gadget nerds' attention for more than 30 seconds, couldn't ride the Ocean to the land of success, writing off its half-billion dollar 2.5 year run for $39m in Virgin Mobile USA stock.Let's take a look at the last five years in dead American MVNOs. For a graveyard of well over billion dollars, you'd sure think it wasn't so damned shabby.Amp'd Mobile Began service: December, 2005 Ended service: July, 2007 Network: Verizon Amount invested: reportedly $350 - 400m+ Backgrounder: Despite backing by MTV and Universal Music Group (and a ton of VCs), CEO Peter Adderton managed to run this MVNO straight into the ground in little more than a year. It didn't help that the people running Amp'd couldn't get thousands of their "customers" to make good on their bills, strangling what little income the company did have. Way to go. Amp'd's mobile content still lives on, though -- ever catch Little Bush on Comedy Central?Continue reading A stroll through the MVNO graveyardPermalink | Email this | Comments




Posted on Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:10:00 PDT at http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/...375433452/