Though Amp'd Mobile is keeping its MVNO going in the U.S. it seems to be questioning the wisdom of MVNOs in other markets. It has now launched its highly targeted youth-centric content portal in two other countries, Japan and Canada, but instead of taking the virtual operator approach, it's working off existing operator's decks.

How successful that approach will be will depend on Amp'd Mobile's carrier partners. KDDI has a customer base of 20 million, and Telus has 4.5 million -- compared to only 50,000 Amp'd customers -- opening up enormous pools of potential subscribers, but Amp'd has to compete with those carriers other content partnerships and a crowded deck. The appeal of Amp'd as a lifestyle choice might wither away also as KDDI and Telus' fussy all-things-to-all-people business model might contradict the 18- to 24-year-old young, hip image Amp'd promotes. Deals like these seem destined for mediocrity. Unless...

If those carriers embrace Amp'd Live as a separate content offering instead of supplementary one, basically recreating the Amp'd brand and service offering on a new line of phones and service plans, they might be on to something. After all, look at Sprint's success with Boost Mobile. It's the Nextel service with youth-oriented content and a buzz-producing marketing campaign. For a company that was never hot on prepaid, it can't seem to stop selling Boost phones while losing its core postpaid subscribers.

Starting an entirely new service and brand within one's own isn't an easy proposition though. Sprint and Nextel certainly didn't do it. Nextel invested in and then bought Boost outright as sort of an MVNO experiment. At the same time, carriers aren't exactly hot on the MVNO model anymore. Many of them, Sprint included, have said they would stop supporting new MVNOs, and with or without neglect from their carrier partners the existing MVNOs seem to be failing. Look at Mobile ESPN.

Amp'd might give them an alternative, though. Carriers overseas might decide to get into the youth market with a partner like Amp'd, which presents them an all-in-one package of content, marketing and brand maintenance, yet they still can leverage their own content services and ultimately own the end customer. It's just a question of how much a carrier willing to give their youth service leeway to carve its own niche separate from the mother company.

Contact me at kfitchard@telephonyonline.com.