A Belgian mobile operator named Mobile Vikings plans to roll out a daily deal app in April that is designed to give users credit towards their bill when they make purchases in local stores, Ars Technica reports. Like many normal MVNOs, Mobile Vikings current offers users prepaid mobile plans with data, voice, and text messaging. The new program is intended to allow customers to completely pay for mobile internet by using the deals. “We say somebody has to pay the bill,” the company’s founder and CEO tells Ars Technica. “Our goal is that the users have to pay for the cost of using the network. But we believe that third-parties will be happy to pay the bill of the users if they buy stuff with them.”
Mobile Vikings wants to offer mobile internet for free with Groupon-like deals
is executive editor who has obsessed over headlines and internet speeds since 2011. He previously worked as an advocate for the National Park System.
Mobile Vikings plans to introduce the service in a small Belgian market before expanding across the country, but it also has its sights set on the US market; Ars Technica says the company will be meeting with investors in Silicon Valley this year. There’s no guarantee that the service will expand to the US, but the goal of “free” isn’t totally unique. US-based FreedomPop launched a “freemium” mobile internet service in November that gives users 500MB of free data through a partnership with Clearwire.
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