As we’ve seen a number of smaller carriers and MVNO’s close their doors over the last 12 months, it’s clear that things aren’t so easy for the little guys in the American wireless business. The most recent carrier facing a bit of trouble looks to be Virgin Mobile. A recently leaked internal document reveals that the company is in the midst of a major restructuring. The document, an email from Virgin’s CEO Dan Schulman, attempts to sugar coat the 85% drop that the company’s stock has seen since Oct 16th, 2007. What he can’t sugar coat, however, is the fact that the company is consolidating their two main offices in to one NJ location, firing a significant potion of their IT staff and replacing them with outsourced IBM goons in the process. Not fun. That said, streamlining a dying company is a good move, but whether this will be enough to save a dying company remains to be seen. Our gut feeling is that they probably need to put some effort into manufacturing handsets and services that are a bit more…appealing if they have any hope of winning over an already resistant market.
