US MVNO FreedomPop has announced that it will launch in the UK this summer, marking its entry into the European market. The 'freemium' operator has started taking registrations for beta users on a first-come, first-serve basis. FreedomPop will offer a Sim-only plan with 200 minutes, 200 SMS and 200 MB of data free of charge, as well as higher tier services at yet unspecified prices. Its smartphone app also offers free international calling to over 60 countries and unlimited calls and texts between FreedomPop subscribers.
FreedomPop published on its website a map of its UK coverage, which will use network capacity from 3 UK. The company said it would be available nationwide in the UK to start and expand to other countries later, with no roaming fees. Customers will be able to port their numbers from other providers to FreedomPop.
In addition, the company said it is launching Jetsetter, a global Sim offering free roaming service. It will be made initially available in the UK, France and Spain, with beta user registrations set to follow. The UK launch and Jetsetter offer follow earlier announcements from the US-based company of network agreements in a number of smaller European countries, including Belgium and Austria. More recently it said the European launch would instead start in a large country. In mid-May, FreedomPop said it was in talks to be acquired within 4-6 weeks.
FreedomPop CEO Stephen Stokols said that the company decided to launch in the UK as its first international market because it is a large and highly competitive market where switching costs for customers are low. "From an implementation perspective, just the fact that it's English makes it easier to work out some of the kinks," he said in an interview with FierceWireless. The company aims to make sure its business model is sound before expanding to other countries. The aim is to be present in 2-3 international markets before year-end, the CEO said.
Stokols said a possible takeover of the company is still under discussion, while it also has an option in place to raise new capital. If FreedomPop is acquired, he said the buyer has no plans to integrate the company and would allow the brand to continue to develop independently.
