Ultra Mobile is an American Mobile Virtual Network Operator, 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 in the United States. In 2015, Ultra Mobile was ranked number #1 on 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. As of 2016, Ultra Mobile was available in over 25,000 retail stores in the US, including Target and 7-Eleven. In 2017, the company offered unlimited calling to 75 countries, and access to over 200 countries. The company's business model is based on selling Subscriber Identity Module cards which can be used with prepaid plans on unlocked phones. This contrasts to selling long terms 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. The Ultra Mobile was co-founded by CEO David Glickman, who has 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 has focused on hiring millennials.
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. In January 2016, the company acquired rights from Univision Communications to manage the Univision Mobile brand, another T-MobileMVNO partner which specializes in US SIM-based international calling plans for calls to Latin American countries. 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. 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. In October 2019, Mint Mobile started operating as their own company to serve customers as Mint Mobile LLC, which is separate from Ultra Mobile. On November 25, 2019, it was announced that actor Ryan Reynolds had purchased an ownership stake in Mint Mobile.
