Manila, Philippines-based Mobilink-Network, which claims to be the first decentralised global mobile telecom provider, promises users unlimited calling, roaming and data if they buy its cryptocurrency in a planned Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Services on its network will come free as revenues from digital ads will pay for all voice and data usage. Advertisers will pay Mobilink-Network to show ads on the smartphone, and the telecom firm will use that money to cover the monthly mobile bill. The Filipino company is betting on the fact that there are almost five billion smartphone users and advertisers are spending heavily on digital ads, with 2017 figures standing at an estimated $122 billion and projected to reach over $350 billion after 2021. According to the company, this boils down to advertising revenues being higher than mobile voice and data revenues in the future.

In an example, it said that if it earned ad revenue of $100, it will use it in the following way: $45 to cover telecom services, $14 to cover operating costs, $14 for fees, $10 for the firm’s coffers, and $21 for the user in the form of virtual coins. The firm estimates it will have users in over 170 countries and 250 million clients within the next two years. That number is expected to jump to over 600 million users within four years, using both direct and indirect interconnections to access over 170 worldwide telecom carriers.