FreedomPop, the company behind a WiFi-first voice and data products, has introduced its own full-featured, low-cost phone for £59 (US$69.77) that will initially be offered in the U.K. and Spain, with plans to introduce it in the U.S. later this year.

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FreedomPop has previously relied on refurbished Android smartphones. The new device, called the V7, will give the company more control of its service, gain access to a higher-quality product, and will help FreedomPop deal with supply issues for refurbished Android devices, said FreedomPop CEO Stephen Stokols.

RELATED: Intel Capital Splashes Cash on FreedomPop, Sckipio

He said FreedomPop, which tends to operate in the lower end of the market, has run into supply problems by leaning on refurbished devices that, on occasion, has caused the company to stop promotions prematurely and created a backorder issue.

“There are only so many devices in the market,” he said, noting that FreedomPop’s issue with supply has been ongoing for about 18 months.

By going with its own smartphone, FreedomPop will also get more control of the service and the overall experience, which uses a WiFi-first model that falls back on cellular networks through MVNO deals with carriers, Stokols said.

FreedomPop isn’t naming its initial supplier for the V7, but the company could eventually work with multiple OEM partners, he said.

While acknowledging that FreedomPop doesn’t need the volumes of a company like Samsung, the aim is to take on partners that can produce in the volumes it needs, “and ramp up with us," Stokols said. 

FreedomPop doesn’t disclose exact customer figures, but is approaching 2 million worldwide, according to Stokols. 

Stokols said FreedomPop expects to introduce the V7 to U.S. customers by sometime in the next quarter.

The FreedomPop V7 includes a free FreedomPop SIM that supports free voice, text and data included, as well as free WhatsApp usage. Customers who want more than the basic free plan can either upgrade to a paid FreedomPop plan, use a different SIM, or both, because the phone is dual SIM device.

The phone itself runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow, features a five-inch IPS scree and 13 megapixel camera, and is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 processor. It has 8 gigabytes of internal memory and can support 32 GB micros SD card.

FreedomPop, a startup that targets mobile voice and data services to cost-conscious consumers, said it has raised $50 million more  while introducing a new “global” hotspot.

The new round of funding, which takes its total beyond the $109 million mark, will be used to stoke growth and accelerate its international expansion.

The new global hotspot (pictured) is supported in 25 countries today, and will approach 50 by year-end, as it expands into parts of Asia and Latin America.

FreedomPop is selling the hotspot for $49.99, and offering a global SIM for smartphones for $10. The data plan includes 200 megabytes per month in the supported countries, and customers can buy additional 500 MB buckets of data for $10.

That hotspot will initially help customers connect in the U.S., United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Czech Republic. FreedomPop plans to expand coverage to over 40 countries by year end including parts of Asia and Latin America. Countries on the coming soon list include Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Russia and Vietnam, among others.

FreedomPop CEO Stephen Stokols said the company is able to offer access and pricing lower than roaming rates thanks to MVNO partnerships in each market.

“We’re doing all these deals with the intent to launch locally,” he said.

He added that the new products aren’t necessarily targeted to world travers, but to consumers in those markets that are trying to avoid more expensive roaming rates.

Stokols noted that some carriers are also looking to forge strategic partnerships with FreedomPop that could enable them to enter new markets.

FreedomPop said it has signes on  more than 1 million subs so far. 

G.fast chipmaker Sckipio and mobile data/voice company  FreedomPop were among the startups that are benefiting from Intel Capital's decision to invest $22 million in ten technology companies. 

Sckipio has been focused on silicon that powers modems and other gear that support G.fast, an emerging standard that brings gigabit capabilities to DSL networks. Ramat Gan, Israel-based Sckipio noted that it showed 1 Gbps running at 300 meters using G.fast technology. How much Intel Capital put into Sckipio was not released, but the startup noted that it represents its third round of funding and that it previously has raised $27 million from venture capital firms Amiti Ventures, Aviv Ventures, Genesis Partners, Gemini Israel Ventures and Pitango Venture Capital.

FreedomPop said the new strategic funding will help it to expand is smartphone lineup, noting that Intel Capital’s backing will help to fund a 2016 commercial launch of a "WiFi first" smartphone that will prefer WiFi connectivity and fallback to cellular when WiFi is not available. That device, FreedomPop said, will use Intel’s new SoFIA mobile chipset to  help users seamlessly switch to and from WiFi and cellular networks. “The smartphone will be available in multiple markets, with launch details to be announced at a later date.” FreedomPop said.

Intel made the funding announcement at the Intel Capital Global Summit in San Diego.  The VC expects to invest more than $500 million in technology companies this year, up from $359 million in 2014.

Here’s a roundup of other Intel Capital investments announced today:

-LISNR: The Cincinnati-based creator of Smart Tones, a new communication protocol that sends data over audio using a high-frequency, inaudible technology.

-what3words:  A London-based developer of an addressing platform that, it claims, allows people to find and communicate a location more accurately than GPS or postcodes.

-Body Labs: A New York-based startup that collects, digitizes and organizes all of the data and information related to human body shape, pose and motion.

-Microprogram Information:  A Taiwan-based Internet of Things startup that makes “turnkey” hardware and software solutions and backend information management services for rental bicycles, taxi fleets, and mobile point-of-sale systems.

-Perfant Technology: Beijing, China-based developer of imaging and video technologies for artificial intelligence, machine vision, 3-D reconstruction and virtual reality.

-Chargifi: London-based startup focused on the development of a wireless charging network that would span coffee shops to hotels, restaurants, offices and airports.

-KMLabs: Boulder, Colo.-based maker of  compact laser systems for research and industrial applications.

-Prieto Battery: Fort Collins, Colo.-based 3-D advanced battery provider focused on commercializing a patented Lithium-ion battery technology.

FreedomPop, a company that provides “free” mobile voice and data services to cost-conscious consumers, said it has landed $6 million in additional  strategic funding that includes a new investor that will help the startup expand into southeast Asia.

The latest infusion comes more than a month after FreedomPop announced a $30 “B” round led by Partech Ventures.  The latest investment includes $6 million of new funding, plus $4 million that was “ring-fenced” in the recent $30 million round. FreedomPop, which has decided to go it alone after declining “multiple M&A offers,” has raised about $58 million.

FreedomPop said a portion of the latest strategic investment came way of Axiata Group, which claims to have more than 230 million users across Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka.

FreedomPop said it will apply its technology and business model with Axiata’s network, and aim to disrupt the mobile market there via over-the-top and traditional telecom business models.

“Axiata’s investment comes with a major commercial partnership that will help take FreedomPop to a whole new level globally, not only by extending our reach, but by expanding how we work with carriers around the world,” Stephen Stokols, FreedomPop’s  founder and CEO, said in a statement.

FreedomPop said it is in similar partnership talks with other major global carriers.

FreedomPop launched its free phone service about 18 months ago. Last month, it said it was nearing 1 million subs. It’s in the process of rolling out services in the U.K. this summer, followed by other parts of Europe.

FreedomPop is looking to expand as it continues to compete with traditional mobile carriers as well as with Project Fi, a new service from Google that will start at $20 per month and will run on pre-vetted WiFi hot spots and Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s U.S. 4G LTE cellular networks. Cablevision Systems, meanwhile, has launched a WiFi-only service called Freewheel.

FreedomPop, a startup that specializes in “free” mobile voice and data services to the cost-conscious, said it has declined “multiple M&A offers” and will instead look to accelerate its growth following a $30 million “B” round.

With the new round factored in, FreedomPop has raised about $52 million. The B round was led by Partech Ventures, along with participating from DCM Capital and Mangrove Capital. A new “strategic investor” is also being added to the round and will be announced later, the company said. Partech Ventures general partner Mark Menell will be joining the FreedomPop board.

Stephen Stokols, CEO of FreedomPop, said the company avoided the temptation to sell because it believes FreedomPop’s growth trajectory will position it to be available at higher valuations down the road, and that FreedomPop wanted to control its own destiny.

FreedomPop’s valuation is “nowhere near where we think it’s going to be in a year or two years’ time,” he said. “There was a lot of stuff that we were just on the cusp of doing. It felt premature to sell at this point.”

FreedomPop said it turned down “multiple” M&A offers. Stokols wouldn’t identify them by name, but said the group included a mix of U.S. carriers, including MSOs, Internet companies and VoIP service providers that were looking to pivot into the mobile arena.

FreedomPop said it will now look to expand its free mobile service (its devices provide a set amount of its free text and voice service before tiered pricing plans apply) to more countries and boost distribution through new “offline” retail partnerships (the bulk of its sales are done direct via the Internet and through affiliate electronic retail partners such as GroupOn).  The company intends to line up some offline retail tests in time for the 2015 holiday season with “at least one, if not two, big name retailers,” Stokols said.

FreedomPop, which launched its free phone service about 18 months ago, claims that it is nearing 1 million subs. It’s in the process of rolling out in the U.K. this summer and expects to expand further into Europe later this year.

FreedomPop is looking to expand as it continues to compete with traditional mobile carriers as well as with Project Fi, a new service from Google that will start at $20 per month and will run on pre-vetted WiFi hot spots and Sprint’s and T-Mobile’s U.S. 4G LTE cellular networks. Cablevision Systems, meanwhile, has launched a WiFi-only service called Freewheel.

FreedomPop, a startup that has cut its teeth selling “free” mobile voice and data services to cost-conscious consumers, is expanding into the WiFi-only world with a plan that sells for $5 per month.

Billed as an LTE alternative that allows customers to auto-connect to hotspots that are part of FreedomPop’s WiFi network, the new plan, which offers unlimited voice, text and data, is getting off the ground with a network that spans 10 million hotspots, including an undisclosed number that have been deployed by cable operators.  

Of that total, roughly 8 million are “premium” hotspots, meaning they are closed and require credentials before connectivity is allowed, Stephen Stokols, FreedomPop’s CEO, said, noting that FreedomPop’s new WiFi-facing app will authenticate subscribers to those participating networks.

FreedomPop’s new app and its auto-connection capabilities will initially be available via Google Play for Android devices, but hopes to work with Apple to make iOS devices work seamlessly on its aggregated WiFi network.

And FreedomPop is in the process of expanding its aggregated WiFi network. Stokols said he expects 30 million to 50 million hotspots on the FreedomPop network to be auto-connectable within about six months.

“We’re trying to aggregate the aggregators,” he said.  “We’re trying to transfer the value of these networks to the consumer directly.”

FreedomPop isn’t identifying whose WiFi networks are being aggregated, but Stokols acknowledged that the company’s current network does include hotspots that have been deployed by MSOs.

In the U.S., cable operator members of the “Cable WiFi” roaming alliance – Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems and Bright House Networks – have deployed more than 300,000 hotspots in businesses and other indoor and outdoor public venues. Charter Communications has said it intends to join that group. Comcast and Cablevision, meanwhile, have begun to introduce secondary SSID signals in millions of home-side gateways that are accessible by their respective broadband subscribers.

Early on, those operators have been using their WiFi networks primarily as a free perk for residential cable modem subscribers, but FreedomPop’s approach could provide them with a new way to monetize them.

FreedomPop, Stokols said, see a large potential market for its new WiFi-only product. Potential customers in the low-hanging fruit category include consumers who want to wring value out of older Android phones that are no longer attached to a cellular service. This “plus-one” scenario, for example, could provide parents with an inexpensive way to provide a connected device to their children. Stokols estimates that there are about 200 million abandoned phones that fit the category.

He also sees the model appealing to consumers on a tight budget or those who can’t afford cellular services. Stokols said WiFi product could also give FreedomPop a way to eat into the prepaid smartphone market.

Because FreedomPop’s WiFi product is unlimited, the company expects to eat some margin on a small set of users who gobble up lots of data, but believes the anticipated consumption patterns of most customers will make the business model work.

“As wireless carriers like Verizon and AT&T commit billions to build LTE networks, companies like Google and Comcast are investing in Wi-Fi-based networks to deliver mobile data access to consumers at a lower cost,” Steven Sesar, FreedomPop’s COO, said in a statement. “Now FreedomPop is the first mobile carrier to offer access to the largest nationwide Wi-Fi network with talk, text and data, giving cash strapped consumers an alternative to high priced LTE data plans, or a way to simply cut down on their cellular data usage.”

Last fall, FreedomPop launched its own brand of Android-powered products that carry sub-$100 price point, complementing the company's distribution of refurbished Sprint devices.  Those products come with FreedomPop’s free text and voice service – up to 200 voice minutes and 500 texts per month before tiered pricing plans apply.

FreedomPop, a startup that sells “free” mobile voice and data services to cost-conscious consumers and claims to have held discussions with U.S. cable operators, has booted up its own brand of Android-powered products that carry sub-$100 price points.

In a move that complements the company's distribution of refurbished Sprint devices and aims to fill the gap on low-cost Android mobile gear, the initial FreedomPop-branded product to ship is the Liberty (pictured), a 7-inch, 4-Gigabyte, Android-based WiFi-only phablet that sells for $89. The company notes that the Liberty is larger and less expensive than Apple’s first phablet product, the iPhone 6 Plus, which sports a 5.5-inch screen, and the Samsung Galaxy Note and its 5.7-inch screen. FreedomPop made the Liberty WiFi only to keep costs down, but said customers can tap into cellular by pairing it with $49 FreedomPop hotspot that supports 500 megabytes of free data per month.

FreedomPop will follow next month with the Frenzy, a $99 phablet that’s the same size as the Liberty, but adds LTE capabilities.

In the coming months, FreedomPop, which rides Sprint’s wireless network, will also introduce an $89 LTE Android phone, expanding on a higher-end lineup that already includes the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Note 3.

FreedomPop said all devices come with its free text and voice service – up to 200 voice minutes and 500 texts per month before tiered pricing plans apply.

In another cost-cutting move, all of these new FreedomPop-branded devices will not support a 3G fallback. But LTE availability is “now good enough that you’ll get ubiquitous coverage in most major markets,” said Stephen Stokols, FreedomPop’s CEO, noting that the company adds software that auto-connects users to WiFi when they are in the presence of a hotspot.

“The idea is to be ahead of the curve on LTE-only [products],” he said, estimating that FreedomPop has an 18-month lead on other carriers that are considering LTE-only offerings.

FreedomPop, founded in 2011, doesn’t disclose specific customer figures, but “it’s in the several hundreds of thousands, and growing pretty fast,” Stokols said. FreedomPop is on a trajectory to break the 1 million customer market sometime in 2015, he added.

Stokols told FierceWireless last month that FreedomPop has conducted M&A talks with a publicly traded telecom company that isn’t among the Tier 1 U.S. wireless carriers (Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile US), but that the company’s preference is to build toward an IPO.

Cable Talks

U.S. cable operators don’t have access to their own cellular networks, but many have been aggressively deploying metro WiFi networks, possibly setting the stage for so-called “WiFi-first” wireless voice services that use cellular as a fallback.

Stokols said FreedomPop has held some discussions with cable operators, but notes that MSOs are interested in pursuing strategies that are disruptive and can scale up rapidly. But many MSOs are concerned that moving into wireless too aggressively will be a drag on their ARPUs, he said.

“There’s board-level sensitivity around that,” Stokols said. “But 12 months from now, I’d be shocked if a cable operator doesn’t do a WiFi First service.”

FreedomPop, a startup that targets cost-conscious consumers with a range of “free” mobile voice and data plans, said it has shifted to Sprint’s speedier Long Term Evolution network with the launch of an LTE-powered phone lineup that includes the Samsung Victory, Galaxy S3, and the Galaxy S4.

Like FreedomPop’s earlier 3G-focused service, the new LTE options will also feature a free component that provides 500 megabytes of data, 200 voice calls and 500 texts per month before tiered pricing plans apply.

FreedomPop also supports the iPhone 5 and a number of other Android smartphones and WiFi hotspot devices. FreedomPop’s first supported LTE device was the FreedomSpot 5580, a mobile hotspot that was launched last August.

In tandem, FreedomPop has launched a $20 per month “Unlimited Everything” plan that provides all-you-can eat talk, text and data, plus a free tethering feature that lets customers turn their LTE phones into mobile WiFi hotspots. The catch is that after a customer gobbles up 1 Gigabyte of data for the month, the device will shift down to 3G speeds.

Additionally, FreedomPop has unleashed a free, over-the-top communications app on Android that takes advantage of its free voice and text services, and allows users to port an existing phone number.

FreedomPop’s has more than 250,000 subscribers. Founded in 2011, FreedomPop has raised about $16 million.