The Prepaid Press - December 15, 2007 - (Page 12)

GENERAL PREPAID December 15 · 2007 - 12 2007: Prepaid in Review from page 1 March The big news was the IDT lawsuit, ﬁled against six competitors and their subsidiaries, alleging fraudulent calling card practices. TPP had the exclusive scoop on this explosive story. In March, TPP introduced The Prepaid Press List of prepaid wireless providers. The double spread chart has been hung in many an ofﬁce. August Capital One announced it was buying NetSpend for $700 million. The transaction was expected to close in the fourth quarter. (Stay tuned!) Also in August, the prepaid calling card drama took another twist as Bill McCollum, the Florida Attorney General, announced his ofﬁce was investigating fraudulent practices, and had issued subpoenas to ten companies, including IDT. TPPs investigation revealed that IDT was “cooperating” with the investigation. And, Amp’d, who had filed Chapter 11 just weeks before, announced it was shutting down, and selling off assets. April Prepaid wireless is going mainstream, and in April, we covered the burgeoning trend towards ﬂat rate prepaid wireless service. We also noted that three of the defendants in the IDT suit announced in January had settled – Epana, Locus and Dollar Phone. September In September, TPP analyzed recent legislative efforts to control prepaid calling cards, and discussed the details of HR 3402, the “Calling Card Consumer Protection Act,” a bill that would fundamentally alter the industry. J.D. Power and Associates released the 2007 wireless prepaid customer satisfaction study for the second year. The study showed that consumer satisfaction rose, primarily because of more choices and ﬂexibility in prepaid offerings. May In May, we speculated that several trends in prepaid calling cards could result in higher consumer prices. DAC, the IDT suit and access charges all portend high prices in the future. Virgin Mobile USA announced it was going IPO, to the tune of almost $100 million, making it one of the largest, if not the largest, prepaid public offering to date. October In October, another one bit the dust, as Disney shut down its Disney Mobile MVNO service. Coupled with the shutdown of Mobile ESPN a year earlier, and Amp’d in 2007, it cast a pall over MVNOs, especially content-oriented MVNOs. June In June, we reported the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of high-ﬂying Amp’d, and what it might mean to the prepaid wireless industry. Our report questioned the viability of content oriented MVNO offerings. We also analyzed the trials and tribulations of IDT, whose lackluster ﬁnancial performance led to actions affecting the calling card industry. Emida and QComm also announced their merger, as consolidations in prepaid continued. November In November, we offered a summary of gift cards for the 2007 holiday season. Looks like it could be another record-setter. We also covered online prepaid wireless recharge and how it is done. Given the explosive growth of prepaid wireless, recharge techniques take on an increased importance. July The Wal-Mart MoneyCard caught our attention, and that of some very big ﬁnancial interests. The world’s biggest retailer offering a prepaid debit card held out the promise of bigger things to come. We also provided details of the iPhone prepaid offering, and reported on a Microsoft prepaid Ofﬁce Suite offering in South Africa, Romania and Mexico, showing that prepaid has many opportunities yet to be explored. December We broke the story right here in the December issue. A new prepaid calling card association may be starting up. With all the biggest and most important players, it could be the thing that the industry needs to offset the growing threat from the states via their Attorneys General, the payphone industry, lawsuits, and federal regulation. We also discovered that the Capital One NetSpend merger, reported in August, was off, and they will not be merging. Not yet, anyway. Keep reading TPP! Finally, in the December issue, we broke the story that 2007 will end at midnight on December 31, and 2008 will begin. Here’s to a Happy, Safe and Prosperous New Year!

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - December 15, 2007

The Prepaid Press - December 15, 2007 GENERAL PREPAID 2007: Prepaid in Review New Prepaid Association? Contents A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum Regulatory Rundown: FCC Enforcement, SEC Cracks Down, VoIP Hacking, & Wireless Regulation The Legal Line WIRELESS Prepaid Wireless Roundup kajeet to Offer Horoscopes, Jokes and Trivia Redknee Extends Converged Billing Solution AT&T GoPhone Offers Roaming Option in Mexico Total Call Mobile Introduces Holiday Bonus Wireless in Brief INTERNATIONAL Spot Rates Keycorp to Distribute Hypercom in Canada International in Brief Mobile Communications in Latin America Gets a Leg Up TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY T&T in Brief Phone House Launches New Card Facebook Goes Mobile CVT and Total Call Settle IDT Lawsuit Wireline Capex Grows 7% in Third Quarter PAYMENTS Transcard Selected for Discover Payroll Cards Vesdia and MXT Card Services Form Alliance The Giving Tree Card Gives Back MasterCard Launches Prepaid Travel Card Payments in Brief 7-Eleven Pushes Video Games Capital One and NetSpend Merger Off i2c Launches New Release of Campaign Manager Prepaid Card Dispensing from ATMs Credit Card Design Competition Begins NRF Says Gift Cards Gaining Popularity EXTRAS Classifieds Contact Us Our Advertisers

The Prepaid Press - December 15, 2007

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