Amp’d Mobile Shuts Down

Wireless provider Amp’d Mobile will cease operations on July 24—possibly. The company hopes to be acquired by another provider before Tuesday, but this now seems unlikely. A quick glance at the company’s website would lead one to believe everything is just fine—the homepage touts new handsets, payment methods, and service plans; however, a link to a customer-service Q&A provides the news that Amp’d is “potentially suspending operations on July 24th” but is “currently in discussions with several parties” concerning being acquired. Exactly when on the 24th the company will cease operations is unclear, but customer-service support ends today; individuals with Amp’d accounts should look into porting their numbers to new providers post haste.

The Q&A goes on to explain that users must pay their final bills or will be turned over to a collection agency—kindly enough Amp'd explains that "no early termination fee will be assessed."

Amp’d, a virtual network operator that leased space on Verizon’s network, had recently filed for bankruptcy and had hoped to reorganize its finances. In a statement sent to GigaOm, the company stated that “as a result of our rapid growth, our back-end infrastructure was unable to keep up with customer demand. We are taking this step as a necessary and responsible action to sustain and strengthen our momentum in the market place.” Being unable to keep up with customer demand, though, seems an unlikely reason for the company’s troubles. After gobbling up investment cash from a number of venture capital firms as well MTV, Intel, and Qualcomm, Amp’d had trouble expanding its user base. Now, it seems, it will shut down for good.