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Wireless - Thursday, February 7, 2008

Yet Another MVNO - Voce - Says Its Last Goodbye

Has there been any more troubled venture concept over the past couple of years than the MVNO? Answer: no.

We would have bet that Voce would go out of business and it has. Voce was a wireless plan that targets the Paris Hiltons of the world. It had rolled out in LA with plans for New York and SF.

The promise was:
- Unlimited local and long distance calls.
- Trained personal assistants to make restaurant recommendations and reservations, book travel plans, and generally provide 4 Seasons concierge type research.
- Free annual hardware upgrades.
- Luggage delivery service, private jet service, and more.

For this you paid a$500 initiation fee. Monthly usage fees for unlimited calls and a 24/7 personal concierge service were $200 per month. It was only able to sign 2000 customers.

The company was not backed by VCs but rather fund managers. Faith Communications recently sold it to Chicago's SunCal Midwest, a property of SunCal Funds.

Engadget has the painful story that Voce's COO learned of his own company's demise when his own cell phone service ceased to work.

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