According to commentary provided to Fierce Wireless by US Mobile CEO Ahmed Khattak, US Mobile now has around 50,000 unique subscribers. The announcement comes hot on the heels of the MVNO's recent reconfiguration of its phone plans. US Mobile now offers unified phone plans on the Verizon and T-Mobile networks. Previously, different plans were offered for each network.
US Mobile was able to unify its phone plans due to an in house technology stack that it developed for its service. Often times an MVNO has to go through a mobile virtual network enabler (MVNE) to provide it with a platform to setup and run its MVNO service with. Relying on a third party's technology stack can sometimes come with limitations.
US Mobile soft launched in late 2014. According to Khattak the business grew exponentially. In its first full year, the MVNO produced $300,000 in reoccurring annualized revenues. In 2016 the number ballooned to $2.6 million. For the current year, Khattak expects US Mobile to record $10-$15 million in revenue. The company is cash flow positive.
Khattak states that US mobile's churn rate has held steady at around 4%. It's a figure that is much higher than postpaid churn rates, where the customer is often locked into a phone payment plan contract. However, the figure falls largely inline with the churn rate of the prepaid market.
Khattak has big plans for US Mobile. Next year the MVNO will likely expand to make its offerings available through retail outlets. It may also began to sell some postpaid plans. Khattak intends to enter the connected devices market by selling services for a wide range of devices including drones and watches.
The MVNO market is a tough and competitive market to thrive in. Often times an MVNO shuts down as quickly as launched. For now US Mobile seems to have cracked the code. Khattak and his team seem to have laid down a solid foundation that should keep US Mobile running smoothly well into the future.