FreedomPop MVNO Offers Cheap Roaming In Europe, US With Global SIM
FreedomPop raises £35m and wants to expand Global SIM to Latin America and Asia
Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) FreedomPop’s global SIM will give users 200MB of free data to use in any of the 25 countries covered by the service.
A SIM costs £10 and the allowance can be used in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Czech Republic.
There are plans to expand the number of countries to 40 by the end of the year, including parets of Asia and Latin America. Once the allowance has been exceeded, customers can purchase an additional 500MB for £10 and there are plans to offer a ‘global hotspot’ for £39.
FreedomPop roaming
FreedomPop originated in the US and launched in the UK last year using Three’s network, giving customers 200MB of data, 200 texts and 200 calls for free each month. This can be topped up through third party offers, such as surveys or coupons, and by purchasing additional services like voicemail, an international virtual number or the ability to roll-over allowances to the following month.
More generous data allowances can also be bought and needless to say, FreedomPop will charge you if any allocation is exceeded.
The launch of the roaming service has been facilitated by an additional $50m (£30.5m) funding, a level of support which the MVNO says is validation of its ambitions.
“FreedomPop has proven that new Internet business models work in the telecom space and has developed the technology to scale it globally,” said Steven Esar, FreedomPop COO and co-founder. “This new financing not only validates our capabilities, but it also ensures that FreedomPop has the capital required to become a top 10 global service provider.”
Samba Mobile offered a free ad-supported 3G mobile broadband service in 2012, allowing users to earn ‘credits’ by watching commercials. However users had to pay for the dongle and the SIM card and the service closed last year.
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