Sugar Mobile and textPlus partner to increase mobility for Nextplus App customers in Canada

The million-plus Nextplus users in Canada now have the ability to roam beyond WiFi while receiving 50% discount on Sugar's starter kit

TORONTO, Aug. 3, 2016 /CNW/ - Sugar Mobile is pleased to join forces with California-based textPlus, Inc. to allow its more than one million Canadian users to roam on cellular networks when out of WiFi range for only $19 a month.

The Nextplus mobile app provides free texting and calling to any number worldwide from any connected Android or iOS device. "Nextplus is revolutionary because it offers the features of a cell phone company, but is delivered through an app," said Scott Lahman, founder and CEO of parent company, textPlus Inc. "Partnering with Sugar Mobile simply sweetens the deal for our Canadian customers who can now roam outside of WiFi zones just as easily as our American customers."

Sugar Mobile President Samer Bishay says many of the Nextplus Canadian users are young people ages 13 to 24 who connect their iPads, iPods, iPhones, Androids and other devices without being a customer of the Big Three wireless companies in Canada.

"These demographics align with our current customer base at Sugar. Nextplus customers will receive cellular service beyond WiFi zones at the lowest possible prices in Canada," Bishay says. "They'll also like the fact they receive our $29 starter kit for only $14.50, which includes one month's service. And they can order the discounted starter kit from the Sugar Mobile website."

The Sugar Mobile service, built in partnership between Sugar, Ice Wireless and their parent company Iristel Inc., is an Over-the-top (OTT) product for smart phones just as NetFlix is OTT content for television. Unlike other popular talk and text apps like Skype, WhatsApp and Viber, Sugar customers can keep their existing phone number or pick a new number from a different area code in Canada.

In 2011, textPlus began its partnership with Iristel, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) operator licensed by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), to acquire real phone numbers to provide to Canadian textPlus users.

Iristel is the only Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) in Canada with a coverage area from coast-to-coast-to-coast offering service to Canadians from the Atlantic to Pacific to Arctic oceans. Sugar Mobile's coverage area is now the same, too.

About textPlus

textPlus offers mobile telecom services that give users unparalleled choice, savings and reliability worldwide. Our open network connects millions of people worldwide through an app available on iOS and Android smartphones and devices including iPod touch, tablets and Kindle Fire. textPlus is headquartered in Marina del Rey, California, and backed by leading investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, Matrix Partners, Upfront Ventures and The Raine Group. Learn more at www.textplus.com.

About Sugar Mobile

Sugar is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) operating under parent Ice Wireless, a facilities-based mobile network operator (MNO) delivering 3G/4G HSPA+ technology to rural and remote areas of Canada. Both Sugar and Ice are majority-owned by communications company Iristel Inc., the only CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier) with facilities in all 10 provinces and three territories with coverage from the Atlantic to Pacific to Arctic oceans, the only CLEC in Canada covering all of Canada.

SOURCE Sugar Mobile

Media Relations Contact: Erik Rehder, Senior Vice President, 818.524.0010, [email protected]; Bob Brehl, Media Relations, 416.800.0010, [email protected]