US MVNO Amp’d pulls the plug

Never on a sure footing, the company’s spending habits were purportedly akin to some of the worst of the dot.bomb era; easily blowing nearly US$400 million in venture funding with little to show for the investment. At its peak the wireless provider had around 200,000 subscribers, nearly all of whom apparently didn't bother to pay their phone bills. This situation, plus subsequent collection costs incurred in chasing the defaulters severely impacted the company’s liquidity according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware in June. In the bankruptcy action, the beleaguered MVNO sought Chapter 11 protection from mounting debts including monies owed its biggest creditor, leased line provider Verizon. That company is reportedly owed somewhere between $35 million and $50 million while Motorola will also be out pocket to the tune of $15 million worth of handsets. In a statement on the bankruptcy action, Amp’d said, “as a result of our rapid growth, our back-end infrastructure was unable to keep up with customer demand.