Lycamobile
Lyca Mobile is a British mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) operating in 60 countries. The brand is active in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal,, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. The bulk of Lyca Mobile revenue is claimed to be generated from its SIM products. Lycatel, also a part of Lyca Group, targets customers within expatriate and ethnic markets that want to make international calls.
Company type | Private |
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Industry | Telecommunications |
Founded | September 2006 |
Headquarters |
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Key people | Allirajah Subaskaran (Chairman) Premananthan Sivasamy (Deputy chairman) Chris Tooley (CEO) |
Products | Mobile telecommunications services |
Revenue | €1.8 billion (2015) |
Subsidiaries | Lyca Productions EAP Films |
Website | lycamobile |
Lyca Mobile sells international pay-as-you-go SIM. Being an MVNO, Lyca Mobile leases radio frequencies from mobile phone network operators and forms partnerships with the operators in each country it serves. Lyca Mobile has also developed distinct business structures such as MVNA aggregator arrangements in different countries.
The Lyca Mobile brand concept was launched in 2005 with the first trading using the brand taking place in 2006. Its business structure is arranged to have local national private companies branded under licence as "Lyca Mobile" and operating exclusively in the particular country as either a MVNO provider or as the principal wholesaler of Lyca Mobile-branded products.
Since its launch in the Netherlands in 2006, Lyca Mobile has reached more than 15 million pay-as-you-go customers worldwide.
In 2016, nearly twenty Lyca Mobile employees were arrested in France, with about half of them charged with money laundering. As of 2020, Lyca Mobile is involved in three major tax disputes with HM Revenue and Customs.