SmartServ launches Uphonia MVNO

Mobile content provider SmartServ Online this week completed its evolution into the virtual network operator space this week with the launch of its Uphonia prepaid wireless service, which will operate nationwide over Sprint’s network.

"The prepaid wireless market is a $6 billion opportunity here in the U.S.," said SmartServ COO Tim Wenhold. "A lot of players are announcing service, but there’s still a ton of room for niche markets to be taken care of, and there aren’t a lot of nationally known brands out there. We’re targeting what we call the underserved market--teens, adults with no credit and adults who are credit-challenged, who together make up one-third of the U.S. population."

Specifically, Uphonia will target teens, credit-challenged consumers and ethnic groups in urban areas, selling and advertising its service in what the company calls "micro-retailers"--small, independent retail outlets outside the scope of the consumer electronics chains favored by rival MVNOs like Virgin Mobile USA. "Corner bodegas, independent grocers and small drugstores are the lifeblood of commerce in these neighborhoods," Wenhold said. "People who shop there come back every day. We won’t cannibalize Virgin’s market--we complement it in a way."

Uphonia represents the culmination of a corporate transformation that began when Wenhold and CEO Robert Pons joined SmartServ in mid-2003. "Back then the company focused on what it called lifestyle applications, and had minor success on some carrier decks," Wenhold said. "But they were trying to get the wrong piece of the pie. The applications side not where the killer app was coming from--it was in minutes being sold and actual telecom services themselves. We saw the prepaid market was underserved, and that was a place we could uniquely add value."