US telecoms firm Sprint has sold Pinsight Media, its mobile and data advertising company, to Indian-headquartered martech group InMobi.
The all-stock deal, the terms of which weren’t confirmed, comes as the carrier awaits approval from the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to merge with T-Mobile.
According to a statement by InMobi, Pinsight works by partnering with leading US telcos and using their data to help companies better target ads on smartphones to the right audiences.
Combining network-level data with data from mobile apps and web browsers, InMobi hopes to provide its users an “end-to-end view” of consumers, following the acquisition.
For the scale of the opportunity in that data for marketing, take a look at some of the reasoning behind AT&T’s $85bn dollar, data-focused bid for Time Warner.
While the cost of the deal wasn’t confirmed, InMobi will inherit 100 of Sprint’s Pinsight team who will remain based in Kansas City, while the acquired firm will continue to work with Sprint following the deal.
In striking the “strategic partnership” with InMobi, Sprint hopes to create a “US advertising powerhouse”, according to the carrier’s chief digital officer, Rob Roy.
“Sprint’s partnership with InMobi goes beyond this acquisition,” Roy said.
“We have been looking for a strategic partner that can deliver the latest digital marketing and mobile advertising technologies, besides having a deep appreciation of regulatory, privacy, and data concerns.
“This partnership provides Sprint with an innovative partner for driving our marketing success.”
In essence, InMobi will be assisting Sprint in monetising the data it already has, and the equipment it already owns in Pinsight, which includes a DMP and programmatic capabilities.
In a quote attained by AdExchanger, InMobi’s CEO & founder, Naveen Tewari, said as much: “We’re running and controlling this unit for Sprint so that they don’t have to.”
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