COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—SkyTel Corp. will end its test of a wireless Internet service here as the company shifts back to its core wireless messaging products.
SkyTel, whose main business is wireless messaging services and support, halted a similar high-speed Internet test in May in Lexington, Ky.
Spokeswoman Angie Yang told the Gazette in Friday’s editions that they determined neither experiment worked as a business proposition. The Colorado Springs service, which was in two neighborhoods, will be pulled July 31.
“If business had been good enough, we might have been able to continue, but it doesn’t make any sense to keep operating a noncore business that isn’t profitable,” she said.
The announcement came as Colorado Springs officials are seeking bids for a new wireless network that will stretch across Colorado Springs. The deadline for submitting proposals is July 24.
Based in Clinton, Miss., SkyTel launched the “Unplugged City” service in February 2006 in a downtown neighborhood and near a shopping mall. The test was expected to last a year.
SkyTel sold its other network to the city of Lexington for $10, but will retain the equipment from the Colorado Springs operation, Yang said.
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