Faith to launch U.S. MVNO

Japanese content provider Faith is launching what it bills as an upscale mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the U.S. using Cingular’s network and back-end management systems supplied by Visage Mobile.

Faith is best known in the U.S. for its ringtone content, branded under Modtones, but the company develops key content delivery technology for the Japanese and other markets. The new service will be called Voce, and while Visage and Faith provided few details in a release issued today, the companies said the MVNO would be a “first class” provider, distinguishing it from the “economy class” services of other operators. The MVNO will launch this month in New York and Los Angeles and will expand to the top 10 U.S. metro markets by the end of 2006.

Voce will be headed by Steve Stanford, a former vice president of marketing for Boost Mobile and an early principle of Amp’d Mobile, which was started by Boost’s creator Peter Adderton. Amp’d itself is scheduled to launch as a high-end data-centric MVNO using Verizon Wireless’s EV-DO networks early next year.

Visage, a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE), will provide its complete service platform, including end-to-end subscriber management, billing, data delivery and option integration with dozens of partners, including other wireless network providers if Faith chooses to expand its wholesale agreements beyond Cingular.