SinglePoint has sold off a piece of its business that has roots stretching back 16 years. Ericsson (NSDQ: ERIC), the Swedish infrastructure provider, has agreed to buy some of SinglePoint’s assets, which will enable it to send premium and standard text messages in the U.S. Release.
The messaging services will be part of Ericsson’s Multimedia Brokering business in the U.S., and will enable it to compete against aggregators, like mBlox and Amdocs (NYSE: DOX). While terms of the deal were not disclosed, generally, these services are considered valuable because most carriers limit the number of aggregators they work with—essentially closing the market to new entrants.
For SinglePoint, the sale indicates that it is still searching for a successful business after operating for 16 years and raising $45 million in venture capital. Going forward, the company says the sale will give it the cash, the resources and the energy to invest in its year-old mobile advertising business, which focuses on monetizing text messages from big media companies, like CBS (NYSE: CBS), NBC and ABC (NYSE: DIS). SinglePoint, formerly called Wireless Services, has also appointed a new CEO. Gowri Shankar, SinglePoint’s SVP of sales and business development, has replaced Rich Begert, who will become an advisor and remain a member of the board. Release.
Of course, mobile advertising is considered a viable field after Google (NSDQ: GOOG) purchased AdMob for $750 million and Apple bought Quattro Wireless. Has the mobile advertising industry gotten hot? Shankar: “That’s for sure, it’s got a lot of attention and a lot of focus, and I think it will continue to grow. It will move from experimental to real, and that’s where we think the big opportunity is.”
Shankar said he still thinks there’s a possibility of SinglePoint getting sold to either Google or Apple (NSDQ: AAPL). While both of them purchased mobile ad networks, neither of them have expertise in advertising within text messages, which continues to be the most ubiquitous mobile phone service. In order to get their attention, SinglePoint will have to move into international markets, where it does not have a presence today. Shankar says to expect announcements on international expansion soon. Shankar: “Especially, once you have a global footprint, smartphones won’t penetrate some markets very quickly—there in lies the opportunity for us.”
SinglePoint’s text messaging service acts as a marketplace where publishers find advertisers for its text message campaigns, including such shows as Deal or No Deal, MTV Movie Awards, American Idol, Project Runway, and the Olympics.