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Ultra Mobile

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Ultra Mobile
Company typePrivate
IndustryTelecommunications
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011)
HeadquartersCosta Mesa, California, U.S.
Key people
  • David Glickman (CEO)
  • Rizwan Kassim (Managing Partner)
ProductsPrepaid mobile phone service
Number of employees
150 (2017)
Websitewww.ultramobile.com
Footnotes / references
[1][2]

Ultra Mobile is an American Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), founded in 2011, which sells low-cost prepaid mobile phone services with unlimited international calling and text plans, operating on T-Mobile's cellular network (formerly Sprint) in the United States.

The company's business model is based on selling Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards which can be used with prepaid plans on unlocked phones. This contrasts to selling long-term contracts with a free or discounted locked phone, a model which is currently more prevalent in the US than in other parts of the world.[3][4]

History

Ultra Mobile was co-founded by CEO David Glickman, who had previously founded companies such as TelePacific Communications, Justice Technology, and Primo Connect. In 2017, the company had approximately 150 employees across the US, Europe, and Asia, and had focused on hiring millennials.[2][5]

In 2015, Ultra Mobile was ranked number 1 in Inc. magazine's list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the United States, with a year-over-year growth rate of 100,849% and revenues of US$118 million in 2014, up from less than a million in 2012.[6]

As of 2016, Ultra Mobile was available in over 25,000 retail stores in the US, including Target and 7-Eleven.[1][7][8] In 2017, the company offered unlimited calling to 75 countries, and access to over 200 countries.[9][10]

Brands

Ultra Mobile is the company's flagship brand, which offers broad international calling plans targeted to diasporic communities in the United States, with the company specifically targeting people born outside of the US.[11]

In January 2016, the company acquired rights from Univision Communications to manage the Univision Mobile brand, another T-Mobile MVNO partner which specializes in US SIM-based international calling plans for calls to Latin American countries.[12][13][14] In May 2017, Ultra Mobile announced that it was closing down the Univision Mobile brand and that it would automatically transfer all Univision Mobile subscribers over to Ultra Mobile.[15]

In August 2016, Ultra Mobile launched Mint Mobile, formerly Mint SIM, an online-only MVNO specializing in prepaid mobile plans on the T-Mobile cellular network, which provides discounted pricing based on monthly, quarterly, or yearly terms paid in advance.[16][17][18] In October 2019, Mint Mobile was spun off from Ultra Mobile and started operating as a separate company to serve customers as Mint Mobile LLC. On November 25, 2019, it was announced that actor Ryan Reynolds had purchased an ownership stake in Mint Mobile.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b "Ultra Mobile Company Profile". Inc. Retrieved 2020-02-10.
  2. ^ a b White, Ronald D (5 February 2017). "Ultra Mobile CEO David Glickman finds his calling". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017.
  3. ^ "Ultra Mobile's Glickman: Customized International Cell Service". Bloomberg. 27 December 2016. Retrieved 28 Feb 2017.
  4. ^ Dolcourt, Jessica (22 July 2013). "Prepaid or postpaid?: The fight for your cell phone dollars (Smartphones Unlocked)". CNet. Retrieved 28 Feb 2017.
  5. ^ Glickman, David (26 March 2015). "How I managed millennials to $100 million in sales". CNBC. Retrieved 26 Feb 2017.
  6. ^ "Ultra Mobile Tops Inc. 5000". www.ocbj.com. Retrieved 2021-01-21.
  7. ^ Kharif, Olga (4 February 2016). "The Phone Companies People Actually Love". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017.
  8. ^ Blakely, Lindsay (September 2015). "How This Entrepreneur Started America's Fastest-Growing Company (Twice)". Inc. Magazine. Retrieved 26 Feb 2017.
  9. ^ "Ultra Mobile", Inc.com, retrieved 25 Feb 2017
  10. ^ Dano, Mike (30 June 2014). "MVNO Ultra Mobile adds T-Mobile's LTE service, but scraps mobile payments plan". Fierce Wireless. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017.
  11. ^ Viscusi, Stefania (15 December 2015). "Ultra Mobile CEO Shares 2016 Telecom Predictions". Real Time Communications. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017.
  12. ^ Martínez, Laura (29 January 2016). "Univision y T-Mobile ponen fin a su alianza para Univision Mobile". Cnet.com. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017.
  13. ^ Bournique, Dennis (1 February 2016). "Ultra Mobile Has Acquired Univision Mobile - What it Means To Customers". Prepaid Phone News. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017.
  14. ^ "Univision Mobile, Powered by Ultra Mobile, to Offer Customers Unlimited Domestic and International Talk and Text", Univision.com, 29 January 2016, retrieved 25 Feb 2017
  15. ^ JP (2017-05-18). "Ultra Mobile Introduces Flex Plans, Shuts Down Univision Mobile - BestMVNO". BestMVNO. Retrieved 2017-05-27.
  16. ^ Botha, Jason (2 August 2016). "Mint SIM launches, and plans to change the cellular market". Android Guys. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017.
  17. ^ Broida, Rick (16 November 2016). "Get three months of Mint SIM cell service for $35". CNet. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017.
  18. ^ Meyer, Dan (11 January 2017). "Ultra Mobile taps diverse MVNO platforms in battle with established carriers". RCR Wireless News. Retrieved 26 Feb 2017.
  19. ^ "Mint Mobile Sells Ownership Stake To Actor Ryan Reynolds". Best MVNO. November 25, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
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