Amp’d files for Chapter 11
Rating: amplifried?
by Bena Roberts
Amp’d Mobile is in financial trouble – but filing for Chapter 11 might be a move that saves the MVNO.
It would be easy now to write an “I told you so” article on Amp’d – but what good with that do? I am a geek and even worse than that I am a mobile nerd that feels passionately about the fruits of the industry. Quite frankly, Amp’d is a fruit and somebody should be trying to save it.
I say this, as last year, I came very very close to launching a prepaid only MVNO in the UK market targeting the Polish Community. The brand GoPolski was devised by myself and industry talent in the UK. Everyone loved the business plan and we thought that we would make it – but then there was a hiccup. The hiccup was called a greedy mobile operator. We were told that any small MVNO wasn’t on the radar and even though the idea was great – unless our business plan said 1 million subscribers in the first 18 months – we couldn’t get a network operator deal. We heard this on a number of occasions but thought better of simply manipulating the truth to secure a deal. It would have been certain financial ruin for us and more importantly, VC’s were over cautious on high estimations.
My point is that Amp’d is saying that it can’t afford to support customer growth and I have to believe it. The acquisition rates for mobile users are huge. The charges for network deals completely overpriced and mobile operators do little to support an MVNO. This must change. Mobile operators should look at MVNO’s as mini brands or subsidiaries not just stand alone players.
But anyway – back to Amp’d
The ambitious mobile content player boasts subscribers (near 200,000) in a tough competitive market. The brand is cool and its being proves that there is a market for mobile content and data. Finally users and subscribers of Amp’d mobile are buying mobile content. So the company is in huge debt –but all the companies that it owes money too could also save it.
For example Verizon or Motorola. Verizon could eat the MVNO and leave it to run as part of a multi-brand strategy. This has worked wonders for KPN in Europe. Similarly, MTV or Vivendi could take more of an active part in the MVNO as its their content that its selling?
The state of the MVNO market is nothing to be proud of – but what is clear is that it’s easy to criticise but now let’s see some help.
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