Wireless Federation

Prexar Mobile has agreed to acquire the assets of bankrupt US MVNO Amp’d Mobile. The Prexar Mobile offering is managed by USA Telephone, a CLEC providing local and long-distance phone services. Amp’d Mobile customers moving to Prexar Mobile can for the most part continue to use their existing mobile phones, and will be able to choose from a range of calling and text messaging plan options. Financial details of the agreement were not released.

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According to an FAQ page posted on its website, Amp’d Mobile will suspend U.S. operations July 24. The embattled MVNO alerted subscribers to the shutdown via text message over the weekend, urging consumers wishing to port their Amp’d phone number to a rival carrier to do so by the end of business today. No early termination fee will apply, although prepaid subscribers due an outstanding unpaid credit, rebate or refund will need to file a claim “to be considered for payment.” According to the FAQ, Amp’d “is currently in discussions with several parties” exploring a potential acquisition.

On Friday, Amp’d filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to begin auctioning off its remaining assets. According to the filing, Amp’d has exhausted options to secure debtor-in-possession financing, and is seeking to sell assets in order to defray a portion of its mounting debt. Amp’d is petitioning for a July 30 auction date. Secured lender Kings Road Investment will now participate in the auction process.

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Embattled Amp’d Mobile confirmed the much-rumored exit of founder and CEO Peter Adderton. An Amp’d spokesperson told Telephony no interim CEO has been selected, and the MVNO’s senior management team, led by president Bill Stone, will continue to oversee day-to-day operations in the short term. The spokesperson declined comment on a timetable for naming Adderton’s replacement, but did confirm that Adderton remains on the company board.

Confirmation of Adderton’s resignation comes less than two weeks after Amp’d Mobile filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Despite more than $360 million in venture capital financing and subscriber totals closing in on the 200,000 mark, Amp’d is over $100 million in debt, owing $33 million to Verizon Wireless for network operations and $16.4 million to Motorola for handsets. In an affidavit filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Stone admitted Verizon declared default on the MVNO’s wholesale agreement on May 22, demanding a $4.5 million payment within 10 days. “Faced with no other viable alternative, the [Amp’d] board of directors resolved to seek bankruptcy protection on an emergency basis on the evening of June 1, 2007,” the affidavit reads.

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Amp’d Mobile announced its subscriber totals are now approaching the 200,000 threshold following the first-quarter addition of 84,000 new customer activations. The MVNO also stated ARPU totals exceeding $100 per month, with data ARPU accounting for roughly $30 per month. Of that $30 monthly total, more than 50 percent derives from mobile entertainment, doubling the industry average; according to Amp’d, subscribers consumed more than four million videos, songs and mobile games in Q1 2007, doubling the MVNO’s Q4 2006 figures.  

Other Amp’d benchmarks: Subscribers are now downloading more over-the-air music downloads than ringtones, and original content–though comprising just five percent of all Amp’d Live content–generates 30 percent of overall downloads.

For more on the Amp’d subscriber data:
- read this release

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FierceMobileContent writes…Amp’d Mobile, the pioneer of fully integrated mobile entertainment, unveiled Amp’d version Motorola phone MOTO Q last week. A MOTO Q is designed for experiencing mobile entertainment, and targeted at today’s youth market who thrive on social networking and entertainment. According to Bruce Brda, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Mobi…

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Theglobeandmail writes…The country’s newest wireless company, Amp’d Mobile Canada, has decided to give its rivals an extra jab by launching its service on March 14, when cellphone numbers become portable.

“We’re going to be the only people in the market with nothing to lose,â€? Chris Houston, president of Amp’d Mobile Canada, said in a recent phone interview.

The company is entering the ring at a moment when the battle for wireless customers is about to intensify. Subscribers will soon be able to keep their phone numbers when they switch carriers, which may make some more willing to move.

The Canadian arm of U.S.-based of Amp’d Mobile Inc. is pushing into Canada through a revenue-sharing partnership formed last year with wireless giant Telus Corp. As a result, it’s the other cellphone kings, Bell Canada and Rogers Wireless Communications Inc. that Amp’d Mobile Canada views as its chief competition.

Still, it’s not as though Amp’d Mobile Canada will cast a wide net across the whole industry. Instead, it’s targeting a specific group; young adults who are willing to fork out oodles of money on trendy ring tones, sports clips, and their favourite songs for their cellphone.

That unusual focus has not brought in mobs of subscribers at its U.S. parent. Since its launch a year ago, that company has signed up more than 100,000 customers. In contrast, the entire U.S. wireless industry added 16.3 million clients in the first nine months of 2006, a report from Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. showed.

North of the border, Amp’d Mobile Canada probably won’t have a big impact because it’s addressing a market that is already highly penetrated, according to Brian Sharwood, a Toronto-based analyst at telecommunications consulting firm SeaBoard Group. “It’s focused on switchers,â€? he said.

What the U.S. company’s strategy has accomplished, though, is to attract large spenders. It recently said customers’ monthly bills, a measure known as average revenue per user (ARPU), exceed $100 (U.S.), and more than $30 of that comes from data revenue. U.S. carriers, on average, generate $53 in ARPU, with $5.60 coming from data, according to Merrill Lynch.

“In the States, you’re seeing industry-wide data ARPU is $6, whereas we’re achieving a $30-plus-data ARPU,â€? said Mr. Houston, one of Amp’d Mobile’s co-founders. “I think we’re in very similar market conditions in the Canadian market.â€?

Despite Amp’d Mobile’s growth, however, data services over all haven’t taken off in North America as in other markets. Some observers say high prices are to blame.

Amp’d Mobile Canada hasn’t yet set its rates, but the goal is to be “price competitiveâ€? rather than a “price leader,â€? Mr. Houston said. Still, he agrees that lower rates for data services would encourage use.

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WirelessWeek writes…With their eye on the same target audience, MTV Networks and Amp’d Mobile have forged a content development deal to create and distribute original made-for-mobile episodic series. Content generated from the partnership will appear exclusively on Amp’d.

“MTV Networks and Amp’d Mobile are building an entirely new model for the creation, development and distribution of short-form programming for consumers to access on their handset,” says Greg Clayman, senior VP of Mobile Media for MTV Networks. “This process also will help us cultivate an entirely new generation of young filmmakers who are inspired to create works of art that can live on any screen.”

The companies are touting the deal as the first of its kind between major media company and a mobile entertainment provider. The original programming will appear on MTV Networks’ channels on Amp’d’s entertainment portal Amp’d Live.

MTV recently made a commitment to the mobile space with the creation of a dedicated mobile unit called MTVN Mobile Media Group. On the heels of the group’s formation, MTV announced a deal with Motricity to launch a new mobile content subscription-based service called Bananas. It will feature ringtones, wallpapers, sound bites, cast photos and graphics from a selection of MTV shows.

Amp’d recently reported its customer totals passed the 100,000 mark. More than 2 million paid videos were downloaded or streamed by customers, with average revenue per user (ARPU) for this category coming in at more than $10. Original content, according to Amp’d, accounted for 39% of all video downloads.

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