Ampd To Shut Down And Sell Off Assets
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Richard Baguley Published on July 22, 2007 Comment on this |
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22nd July 2007 - The end is in sight for Amp'd; following their bankruptcy and Verizon's attempt to cut off their users, the company is shutting down and selling what's left. What this means for Amp'd customers is that the service will probably shut down as of midnight tuesday, leaving both subscribers and prepaid users with dead air.The Amp'd MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator, a company who sells access to another's network) sent a text message to all of their subscribers over the weekend saying that the service may be disconnected as of midnight on the 24th. This is not because Amp'd wants to disconnect the customers, but because the court order preventing Verizon (whose network services Amp'd resold) from disconnecting the service runs out on the 23rd, leaving Verizon free to disconnect all of the MVNOs users from the network.
Amp'd has also updated their web site with a series of questions and answers for users, claiming that the company is "potentially suspending US operations on July 24th". And it seems that the company is pretty much shutting down completely; Their customer service will not be available after the 23rd, and they provide details on how to port numbers away from Amp'd. The site claims that porting requests (where the user moves a number to another phone network) will be honored within 24 hours, but it remains to be seen if this holds true as the company shuts down.
The Amp'd site also claims that users will be able to connect their Amp'd phones to other CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint, but it's also not clear if these other networks will allow users to connect Amp'd handsets to their service, or if they will require users to buy new handsets.
Prepaid users will also be left out in the cold; if they want to get a refund for their pre-paid service, they have to file a claim with the bankruptcy services company who are handling claims against the company . There is no indication when or even if the users will get refunds for their pre-paid services; in bankruptcies like this, smaller creditors tend to get less favor than the larger ones. And with Amp'd owing over $30 million to various companies, there are a large number of companies queing up to try and get their money.
Amp'd also told the court in charge of their bankruptcy that they are going to try and cover some of their bills by selling off their assets. However, it doesn't seem that these assets will cover the millions of dollars that the company owes; according to press reports, the assets that the company is looking to sell include a number of handsets, a set of studio facilities and a small quantity of copyrighted material.
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