Updated with correction: Qwest, the smallest of the Baby Bells, is shutting down its wireless service. It’s told its customers that they have 60 days to switch to other carriers. All Qwest Wireless services will be done by Oct. 31, 2009, the company said in a statement. (More details here.)

Over a year ago, Denver-based Qwest started re-selling Verizon Wireless service as part of its consumer offering. Prior to that, they were rebranding Sprint service as “Qwest Wireless” and as a result it’s now urging people to switch to Verizon. The two companies had signed the deal because they were going to jointly bid for government contracts.

Back in March 2008, Qwest CEO Ed Mueller told me that, “All we want to do is partner with a national wireless player where we can rebrand and remarket their service to our customer base. We are ambivalent about the technology but we want a partner with retail presence.”

Apparently the customers didn’t get the memo — only a few thousand have signed up. Like many other mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), things have not gone swimmingly for Qwest. At the end of the second quarter, Qwest had 185,000 MVNO customers.

The company had announced plans to shut down its MVNO wireless business along with its second-quarter 2009 earnings announcement. This business brought in less than $10 million in revenues during the period.

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My Early Black Friday Deal Arrived — Panasonic HDC-SD10 jkOnTheRun – by Kevin C. Tofel "; 10 Things to Be Thankful For in Greentech Earth2Tech – by Josie Garthwaite "; NewTeeVee Re-Run: Paul McCartney Cooks Mashed Potatoes NewTeeVee – by Chris Albrecht "; Living by the Numbers: What Happens When You Quantify Everything? WebWorkerDaily – by Celine Roque ";

Posted by Om Malik on GigaOM  |  Permalink  |  3 Comments
Tags: MVNO, Verizon wireless, Qwest, Qwest Wireless

If you had to pick one mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) whose success has spawned dozens of copycats (most of them failures), then you have to go with Virgin Mobile USA. By focusing on the younger demographic, the company has snagged about 4.83 million customers.

A joint venture of Sprint (S) and Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Warren, N.J.-based Virgin Mobile (VM) went public today. Its shares were recently changing hands for $16, up 6.7 percent. Late Wednesday, the company priced 27.5 million shares at $15 each, raising about $412.5 million, reports Reuters. The new cash will be used to pay down its debt and buy out Sprint, whose stake currently stands at 16.7 percent.

The company had revenues of $667 million for the first six months of 2007 and a net profit of $26 million. And that took six years. My advice to all MVNO wannabes: Pick another way to spend your working life. Like managing the Yankees – I hear there might be a job opening soon.

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My Early Black Friday Deal Arrived — Panasonic HDC-SD10 jkOnTheRun – by Kevin C. Tofel "; 10 Things to Be Thankful For in Greentech Earth2Tech – by Josie Garthwaite "; NewTeeVee Re-Run: Paul McCartney Cooks Mashed Potatoes NewTeeVee – by Chris Albrecht "; Living by the Numbers: What Happens When You Quantify Everything? WebWorkerDaily – by Celine Roque ";

Posted by Om Malik on GigaOM  |  Permalink  |  11 Comments
Tags: MVNO, Richard Branson, Sprint, Virgin Mobile