Some readers may be familiar with FreedomPop, a unique sort of smaller carrier from San Francisco that popped up in 2011 and had launched nationwide by the time 2012 was out. FreedomPop, now is over 1 million members strong and goes against traditional service molds by giving away some basic services and makes their money from people buying more minutes or data. Much like WiFi-first carriers Republic Wireless and Project Fi, additional data can be bought a la carte as needed, with only a very small amount on a monthly recurring cycle. FreedomPop’s free plans and wide variety of available devices, as well as a Bring Your Own Device option, have proven rather popular. As such, they’ve been able to gather up $50 million in capital in their latest funding round.
This newest funding spurt was enough to surpass their previous record of $30 million, scored from Partech Ventures back in June of 2015. The new capital brings their total pool up to $110 million. FreedomPop will be using this capital for a global roll out, starting with a global hotspot and SIM card. The new Global Hotspot should be available soon in France, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Poland, Portugal, Finland, Norway, Greece, Denmark and of course, the service’s current territories of the United States and the United Kingdom. The plan is to expand the compatibility of the Global Hotspot and SIM further out and eventually bring these territories full-fledged service like what they have available in the U.S. and U.K. According to FreedomPop’s website, service should be coming to a good number of other countries fairly soon, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, The Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam
For those interested, the Global Hotspot includes a SIM and 200 megabytes per month of free data, all of which will run you $50. After that, data costs $10 per 500 megabytes. The same terms apply to a standalone SIM that can be inserted in any compatible unlocked device. FreedomPop’s quest to abolish roaming fees should prove beneficial for international travelers and those living in supported areas and wanting to take advantage of their free service.