FreedomPop Raises Another $10 Million In Funding; Looking To Expand In Asia

FreedomPop, the American wireless carrier primarily known for offering free voice and data services, has just raised an additional $10 million in funding from two investors -- the pan-Asian wireless carrier Axiata, and a yet to be revealed tech investor that hails from the United States. By striking a deal with Axiata, FreedomPop has put itself in a good position to expands its wireless services in Asian regions for the first time.

Mainly based in Malaysia, Axiata also has operations in other Asian countries such as Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka (under brands like Smart, M1, and Celcom). FreedomPop has highlighted the fact that Axiata is the biggest wireless carrier in the Southeast Asian region, with 230 million customers in various countries and territories.

FreedomPop has also managed to snag a certain American tech company investor who will be using its strategic collaboration with the wireless carrier in order to compete with Google Fi at the mobile device level and with Qualcomm at the processor level. This still unnamed party will be officially revealing its partnership with FreedomPop in the coming weeks.

About a month ago, FreedomPop also revealed that it was able to raise $30 million in funding, and the wireless carrier also cited another unnamed tech investor that will be working with FreedomPop on the hardware side. It is not clear yet if this unrevealed company now is the same one referred to by the wireless carrier last month.

While the hardware side of things still lacks some details, FreedomPop’s involvement with Axiata comes with more information. Apparently, FreedomPop will be working with Axiata in launching a free mobile service within the next twelve months. This service will run under a so-called disrupted brand that will either utilized the FreedomPop branding, or be labeled as something that is powered by FreedomPop and will be pretty much independent from existing Axiata brands.

With regards to the nature of the service, it will be similar to what FreedomPop offers via its free wireless service for US customers. As revealed by FreedomPop, around 50 percent of the wireless carrier’s almost 1 million customers in the US are under the basic free tier, while the other half chooses to pay for additional inclusions such as extra data and voice mail, just to name a few. 

Apart from its efforts for the Asian market, FreedomPop has also been working at rolling out its services to European regions. The wireless carrier already has live test users based in the United Kingdom, and it hopes to launch its services in Europe within the next couple of months.