Republic Wireless Taps T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy 7 In Wi-Fi Push
Wi-Fi calling startup Republic Wireless has added T-Mobile US ( TMUS ) as a cellular network partner and Samsung’s Galaxy S7 to its lineup of mobile phones. Republic Wireless earlier leased cellphone network access from Sprint ( S ). Users of Republic Wireless service use mobile phones that switch to cellular networks if public Wi-Fi is not available. T-Mobile stock edged down a fraction in midday trading in the stock market today , near 40.50. Shares of T-Mobile are up about 3% in 2016. T-Mobile has an IBD Composite Rating of 91 out of a possible 99, which puts it among the top 9% of all stocks in some key metrics that include revenue and earnings growth. Republic Wireless has fewer than 1 million customers, said a Bloomberg report . Alphabet ’s ( GOOGL ) Google rolled out a hybrid Wi-Fi/cellular service in early 2015, but it has not disclosed how many subscribers it has. Sprint and T-Mobile were both partners of Google in its launch. Cable-TV leader Comcast ( CMCSA ) says it’s testing a hybrid Wi-Fi service under a network sharing agreement with Verizon Communications ( VZ ). Republic Wireless is a unit of Internet-calling service Bandwidth.com. While Republic Wireless says it will add Samsung’s Galaxy 7 and six other phones to its lineup, the Wi-Fi startup has been unable to forge a deal with Apple ( AAPL ).