Solavei said it now counts more than 65,000 "members" on its service. The T-Mobile USA MVNO also said that it has paid out more than $1 million in commissions to its customers.
"We have seen a tremendous response since our nationwide launch with new members enrolling all across the United States, including Puerto Rico," said Ryan Wuerch, founder and CEO of Solavei. "Growing 100 percent monthly and paying more than $1 million in commissions in such a short timeframe shows the breadth and scalability of Solavei."
Solavei launched its service Sept. 21, and at the time said that it had signed up 25,0000 customers before its launch. Two weeks after the company launched, it said it had made $5 million in revenue and increased its customer base to 30,000 customers.
In other Solavei metrics, Wuerch said 70 percent of Solavei's customers are SIM-only subscribers, meaning that they brought their own phones to the service instead of purchasing phones through Solavei. Customers can either purchase an unlocked phone and use it with the Solavei service or they can unlock their existing device and transfer it to Solavei's service.
Solavei offers unlimited voice, text and data without a contract on T-Mobile's network for $49 per month. Because Solavei relies on customers to sign up other customers, Solavei pays each customer a $20 commission per month for each "trio" or three customers that they sign up. Customers will also get paid when the people they sign up then sign up others. Thus, Solavei's business model calls for the company to reduce customer care costs and customer acquisition costs by not paying for phone subsidies and instead paying customers to sell the service to their friends.
Solavei is one of a handful of new MVNOs launching on T-Mobile's network. Ultra Mobile launched Oct. 29 with a prepaid unlimited plan that includes up to 1,000 minutes of international calling, along with unlimited voice, text and 1 GB of high-speed data, for $49 per month. Ultra Mobile said at the time it had sold almost 500,000 Ultra Mobile SIM cards to independent agents and resellers, which the MVNO said will be distributed to more than 10,000 retail stores nationwide.
For more:
- see this Solavei release
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