Public Mobile
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Mobile virtual network operator |
| Founded | March 18, 2010 |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Products | Mobile telephony |
| Services | HSPA, LTE, mobile broadband, SMS, telephony |
| Parent | Telus Communications Inc. |
| Website | PublicMobile |
Public Mobile is a self-serve, prepaid Canadian mobile brand launched on March 18, 2010 and acquired by Telus Communications in October 2013. Public Mobile was one of several new cellphone providers, alongside Mobilicity (later acquired by Rogers Communications) and Wind Mobile (later acquired by Shaw Communications), which launched in Canada after a government initiative to encourage competition in the wireless sector. As of August 8, 2014, Public Mobile operates as a mobile virtual network operator on the Telus Mobility network. On August 31, 2015, Public Mobile "relaunched" to the public under a beta program providing free SIM cards and three tiers of BYOD plans starting with a 10-day, 30-day or a 90-day period, all of which have respective options of Talk, Text and Data.
The service is not charged by minute, as with other prepaid providers, and instead customers select which types of unlimited talk and text service and which data caps they would like for a 10-, 30-, or 90-day period.
Public Mobile's original CDMA network (now shut down), prior to its takeover by Telus, operated independently without the use of another carrier's network (with the exception of Telus as a roaming provider). Their legacy coverage network centered on Toronto, small parts of the GTA, and Montreal.
Public Mobile paid $52 million to purchase Personal Communications Service G Band spectrum during the 2008 Industry Canada Spectrum auction. It was the only company in the world to deploy this spectrum. Other participants in the 2008 Spectrum auction include Wind Mobile and Mobilicity purchasing the different Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum for their networks in Southern Ontario, while Vidéotron Mobile purchased AWS to provide service throughout the province of Quebec.
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