Free mobile service provider FreedomPop on Wednesday announced plans to launch its service in Spain this summer.
FreedomPop said it will mark the occasion with a special treat to lure subscribers: free data for WhatsApp usage. The provider said it will zero-rate the app and will subsidize any data used by the popular messaging service.
According to FreedomPop, more than 90 percent of texting in Spain is sent via WhatsApp.
“With more than 70 percent of Spain’s mobile consumers using WhatsApp, it has completely cannibalized traditional mobile services in Spain and shaped a unique opportunity for companies looking to embrace the new OTT world we live in,” FreedomPop COO and co-founder Steven Sesar said. “We’re creating a new mobile business model by leveraging WhatsApp’s success to ensure anyone can communicate 100 percent free, simply by covering the data bill for WhatsApp.”
FreedomPop said it will offer customers in Spain a standard package offering an allotment of free calls, texts and data, as well as free roaming across 31 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy. The free package can be upgraded for a minimal cost to obtain a greater call, text and data allowance.
The company didn’t specify what the free package in Spain will include, but the package in the United Kingdom includes 200 minutes, 200 texts and 200 MB of data. The free package in the United States includes 500 MB of data, 500 texts and 200 voice minutes.
FreedomPop launched its service in the United Kingdom in September and said it expects to have more than 100,000 users there in its first twelve months. The company said it is expecting to gain traction in Spain even quicker, with the goal of reaching 500,000 to 1 million users in that country within two years.
FreedomPop said it plans to continue its international expansion with launches in additional countries by the end of the year.
