Apple: MVNO 2.0 and then some

Gigaom’s Stacy Higginbotham had a great post last week based on a Bloomberg article about Apple’s new plans for a universal sim card and back end “pairing” service provided by Gemalto.

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Mobile Wallets in America

Also from MobileCrunch, more talk about using mobile phones as payment systems. From the post: “In-Stat predicts that as many as 25 million Americans will be carrying Mobile Wallets – that is mobile phones that have payment functionality to supplant a conventional wallet – by 2011. My prediction is that this report under-shoots the mark […]

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Alltel’s My Circle Plan

MobileCrunch reviews Alltel’s latest pricing plan called “My Circle.” From the post: “By offering unlimited free calls to ten pre-selected numbers with their new “My Circle” plan, Alltel hopes to increase ARPU and offset off-net settlement charges resulting in overall improved profits off of their voice customers. Personally I think this is the first salvo […]

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Amp’d Closes $150 Million Round

From MocoNews: “Amp’d Mobile, the MVNO, has closed what is probably the biggest digital media venture funding for the last year or so…the third round closed at $150 million, ending some weeks of speculation. The round featured participation from several new investors, including Tudor Investments, Intel Capital, Rho Ventures, Qualcomm, Quilvest Ventures, Polygon Investment Partners […]

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NTL and Virgin Mobile

NTL is buying Virgin Mobile. From Yahoo News: “UK cable company NTL has agreed to buy Virgin Mobile in a deal that could be worth up to 984.9 million pounds ($1.7 billion), creating a “quadruple-play” mobile, fixed-line, broadband and TV service under the Virgin brand.” “This deal has taken a long time to come through. […]

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Rafat at CTIA: MVNOs Not Hitting Numbers

Rafat, and everyone else, is at CTIA. Here is a quick recap of his conversations with MVNOs. From the post: “From the industry insiders I have spoken: Virgin Mobile’s number are flat to dropping (more issues than can be posted here), and then the two new MVNOs Mobile ESPN and Amp’d, from people I have […]

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Embarqing on a MVNO

Via TechDirt, Sprint’s new spin off, Embarq, will also offer a MVNO. From RCR News: “Sprint Nextel Corp.’s local phone service spin-off, Embarq, plans to launch a mobile virtual network operator later this year, according to Embarq’s chief executive officer-to-be, Dan Hesse. Hesse told attendees during a keynote address at the TelecomNext conference of Embarq’s […]

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Earthlink’s Helio Funding

MocoNews reads 10ks so you don’t have to! From the post: “The Earthlink and SK Telecom joint venture MVNO, Helio, has about $121.5 million pumped into it from Earthlink side by now, according to the Earthlink annual report (10-K) filed with SEC this week. “We invested $43.0 million of cash and contributed non-cash assets valued […]

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Aina Group and Nokia Create MVNO

Another MVNO but this time with a twist. From the press release: “Aina Group is involved in both the media and fixed and mobile operator businesses and its proactive concept responds to the challenges the traditional media and the ICT industry are facing. Aina’s media-based virtual service operator concept generates revenues not only for operators, […]

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MVNO: Analyzing the Viability

Om has some information on an expensive research report from Pyramid Research on MVNOs. From the post: “MVNOs and MVNEs: Analyzing the Viability of Virtual Mobile Players.” Virgin Mobile UK is profitable, but the company has been in operation since 1999. Tracfone has been in the market for a few years and sees EBITDA margins […]

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