A familiar name popped up on the radar screen this morning-Freedom Wireless. According to the poorly written press release, Freedom Wireless, a subsidiary of TMT Capital Corp., has acquired an MVNO "license" to sell cellular voice, data and messaging services in the U.S. and Canada.
The company says it's going to sell GSM service across the largest GSM cellular network in the U.S. (read: AT&T) and via the Rogers network in Canada. The main target for its service, according to the release, is the prepaid cellular, affiliate and non-profit markets. Freedom's services will start at $10 per month and it will offer free cellular-to-cellular calling on the Freedom Wireless network.
Freedom Wireless was also the name of the firm that was involved a long-standing patent battle with prepaid billing provider bcgi. Freedom's founders won the patent in 1994 for technology that can automatically shut down mobile phones that have exceeded usage limits. In July 2006, after years of battling Freedom, bcgi finally settled the dispute by agreeing to pay $55.3 million to the firm.
- see this press release on TMT Capital's plan.
- and this release on Freedom's MVNO plan.