Republic Wireless is celebrating independence today, after raising enough funding to spin-off as an independent company from parent company Bandwidth. Republic Wireless started off life five years ago as a mobile virtual network operator using Sprint’s network as a backup, and primarily offloading calls and texts to Wi-Fi. Earlier this year, Republic Wireless added T-Mobile support, which allowed the carrier to support top Android phones including Samsung’s Galaxy S7.
While plans have always been low cost, starting at just $5, Republic is launching two special offers this month to discount phones and provide six months of free service. Republic is offering the Moto Z Play for $349 between December 7th and 12th, and the Huawei Ascend 5W for $129 between December 13th and 19th. Both handsets will come with a contract-free six months of free service with unlimited calls and texts, and 1GB of data.
“The past five years have been an incredible ride as we’ve worked hard to save our customers tens of millions of dollars off their cell phone bills,” says Republic CEO Chris Chuang. “The past five years have been an incredible ride as we’ve worked hard to save our customers tens of millions of dollars off their cell phone bills.”
Republic plan to remain in North Carolina, and the company will continue to develop its Wi-Fi first technologies. The $30 million capital investment will help fund product development and marketing initiatives as Republic looks to continue competing with the bigger carriers.