CTIA: Amp’d goes pre-paid

LOS ANGELES--In an industry first, Amp’d Mobile is launching a pre-paid 3G data and voice plan, targeting the young, hip set that make up its primary target demographic.

Amp’d is positioning the service as “hybrid plan,” which actually has more features of a post-paid plan than the typical pre-paid plan. The difference is that Amp’d is linking all billing directly to the customer’s credit card, charging them in advance for normal post-paid minute buckets, and directly charging the card for any data purchase such as ringtone or game downloads.

Amp’d also announced several new content services at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment, including a football video service that simulcasts live football games in their entirety to the mobile phone. The service debuted on Amp’d handsets last week, airing the Colorado State/Colorado game. Though the games are not the top showdowns being aired on the major networks, the MVNO’s contract with CSTV gives it rights to many regional college ball rivalries, such as Texas Christian University vs. Texas Tech and Notre Dame vs. Air Force.

Amp’d is also beginning its first experiments with advertising on the data deck, saying it has begun slowly introducing “non-invasive” video clips from advertisers like Proctor & Gamble into some of its video channels, which now encompass 27 discreet TV channels as well as video on demand services.