| Leap Wireless International, Inc. | |
| Fate: | Acquired by AT&T |
| Location City: | San Diego, California |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Type: | Subsidiary |
| Industry: | Telecommunications |
| Revenue: | US$ $694 million (Q4 2013) |
| Net Income: | US$ $160 million (Q4 2013) |
| Parent: | AT&T |
| Subsid: | Cricket Wireless Jump Mobile Pocket Communications (76%) |
Leap Wireless International, Inc. was a telecommunications operator that provided wireless services to approximately 4.6 million subscribers, the 5th largest, through its subsidiary, Cricket Communications, Inc. (Cricket Wireless). It was headquartered in San Diego, California. Leap Wireless and Cricket Wireless are now subsidiaries of AT&T.
Leap was founded in 1999 and was built on the premise of unlimited services with no contracts and no credit checks, providing access to wireless services to customers who couldn’t otherwise afford it, didn't want the long-term commitment of a one- or two-year contract, or had a moral or religious objection to a credit check. A credit check is normally required for contract plans offered by telecommunications companies.
Leap has all-digital CDMA 1X, EV-DO and LTE networks that have expanded significantly in the past few years.[1]
On July 12, 2013, AT&T agreed to buy Leap Wireless for $1.2 billion.[2] On March 13, 2014, the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger between AT&T and Leap Wireless. On the same day, Leap announced the completion of the acquisition by AT&T.<ref>Web site: AT&T/Leap Merger - March 13, 2014 . leapwireless.mediaroom.com . 2014 . 2014-03-13 . dead . https://archive.today/20140314010556/http://investor.leapwireless.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=95536&p=irol-merger . March 14, 2014 .
See main article: Cricket Wireless. Cricket Communications, Inc. d.b.a. Cricket Wireless or simply Cricket, founded in 1999, was a subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. prior to Leap's acquisition by AT&T. It provides prepaid wireless services in the United States.
| Jump Mobile | |
| Type: | Private |
| Location City: | San Diego, California |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Industry: | Telecommunications |
| Parent: | Leap Wireless |
Jump Mobile was a subsidiary of Leap Wireless International, Inc. The pre-paid wireless service was not an MVNO, as it used its parent company’s CDMA 1xEV-DO network to provide pre-paid wireless services to its customers. Jump Mobile launched in its first market in 2005, and discontinued services and operations in 2010.
Jump Mobile offered prepaid mobile phone services to customers in 25 U.S. states. Leap Wireless retired the Jump Mobile brand on February 26, 2010, and migrated all customers to its Cricket Wireless "Pay Go" service. Leap Wireless was subsequently acquired by AT&T.
Jump Mobile's features allowed customers unlimited incoming calls from any country, and outgoing calls within the coverage area for a per-minute charge, and unlimited text messaging service within the United States. International text messages and calls were available for additional charges.[3] Through the Cricket/Leap Wireless Network, coverage was about half of the continental United States, with broadband coverage in several metropolitan areas.[4]
The pre-paid service included voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, three-way calling, directory assistance, ringtones, games, and wallpapers.
The terms and conditions for Jump Mobile[5] required customers to maintain paid credit on their accounts. If all funds and minutes expired, after a sixty-day grace period service lapsed and customers lost their telephone numbers.[5] The company offered both "service credit" and "Airtime To Go"; the former expired within a fixed period that began when the credit was applied and that varied based on the amount. "Airtime to Go" had the same range of expiration periods (from 15 to 100 days) but the countdown to expiration didn't begin until the airtime was activated.[5]
Cricket subscribers, prior to the AT&T acquisition, were previously covered by Cricket's own network, along with that of Sprint for native CDMA coverage with voice, text, and data available on these networks. When outside the Cricket or Sprint coverage areas, customers roamed on the Verizon Wireless network and had voice and text services only.
Following the AT&T acquisition, in 2015, the CDMA network was decommissioned and CDMA devices ceased functioning. Presently, customers are covered by AT&T's national LTE/NR network. This network supports LTE on bands 2, 4, 5, 12, 14, 17, 29, 30, 46, and 66; and NR on bands 2, 5, 77, 258, and 260.