Republic Wireless to open pop-up retail store in North Carolina

Republic Wireless is opening its first retail location in its home state of North Carolina.

The MVNO said in a blog post Friday that it will launch a pop-up store in downtown Raleigh this fall, establishing its first physical presence for consumers. The company is asking customers to submit photos of themselves that will be used to decorate the space.

Republic is planning to open more pop-ups soon, it said via Twitter. A Republic representative didn’t immediately reply to questions from FierceWireless, but the company’s online FAQ says it doesn’t currently operate any retail locations.

One of the first MVNOs in the U.S. market to focus on Wi-Fi calling, Republic launched with Sprint six years ago and last year added an unnamed nationwide GSM service provider "with the fastest nationwide 4G LTE network." The unnamed carrier partner is likely T-Mobile, enabling Republic to sell its services into the rural and suburban markets into which T-Mobile is expanding.

Republic Wireless last December received a $30 million cash infusion from its parent company Bandwidth as it spun off into a standalone organization. Republic had been a division of Bandwidth, a Cary, North Carolina-based VoIP and broadband service provider.

The MVNO has claimed to generate $100 million in annual revenue and said it has reached profitability.

Three months ago, Republic Wireless launched a weeklong promotion enabling new Android users to access 2 GB of LTE data a month free for six months. That promotion was limited to Republic’s unnamed GSM network partner.

Republic has begun to target users who don’t want to pay the price of unlimited data plans. Plans start at $15 a month for unlimited talk, text and Wi-Fi data, and top out at $90 a month for an additional 10 GB of cellular data.

The company sells phones ranging from Motorola’s $99 Moto E4 to the $599 Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. Republic also markets its services to users looking to bring their own phones.