Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang built his 2020 run around a “Freedom Dividend,” promising $1,000 a month for every adult. Now he’s trying to put cash back in Americans’ hands with his latest venture, by slashing their phone bills.
On Tuesday, he announced the launch of Noble Mobile, a wireless carrier that charges $50 a month for unlimited data. The company launches on the heels of a $10.3 million round of seed funding led by Yang, Scott Galloway and Corazon Capital.
The carrier is, Yang said, the first of its kind to pay users back for the data they don’t use — essentially incentivizing less time spent glued to screens.
“We say ‘Look up, be fully present, touch grass,’” Yang said. “But in real life we bust out the phone and ignore that person sitting across from us at the dinner table. Hopefully Noble Mobile can change that.
“We don’t want to be extracting your attention. We don’t want to be extracting from your wallet,” Yang, who will serve as Noble’s CEO, told NYNext.
The entrepreneur likens the model to the one Mark Cuban adopted at Cost Plus Drugs: Buy in bulk, cut markups, pass savings on.
“I thought, ‘Can we do this with data?’” Yang asked. “I was spending $140 a month on my Verizon bill. I know, I’m a chump, but it turns out I’m not that unusual.
“If we can lighten up what we call the ‘data tax,’ we can get the equivalent of billions of dollars back into people’s hands.”
Reports vary, but the average American is spending north of $100 per month on their phone bill, per J.D. Power and WhistleOut.
Unlimited data plans, meanwhile, are ubiquitous but often unnecessary; a 2024 Ericsson mobile data report showed the average North American uses just 22 gigabytes per month.
Noble Mobile, which has partnered with apps like Calm, GetYourGuide and BackMarket to offer promotions and exclusive offers to users, is one of a slew of upstart mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) — carriers that don’t own network infrastructure, but instead, lease access from operators like Verizon, AT&T or T-Mobile (who Noble is working with).
Without overhead costs of towers and other groundwork, MVNOs can offer coverage plans at substantially lower costs.
Trump Mobile launched in June 2025, the same month Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes entered the telecom business with their own MVNO, Smartless mobile.
Ryan Reynolds has been a part-owner and the face of Mint Mobile since 2019. Richard Branson launched Virgin Mobile way back in 1999.
Yang said that, in the early 2000s and 2010s when carriers were still racing to build out their networks, reliability could vary. But today, with 5G expansion essentially complete and the three big guns running at or even above capacity, the gap has closed.
“We all need our wireless coverage, but what we don’t need is to pay 100 bucks for something that should cost 40 to 50,” Yang said.
Noble customers who burn through less than 20 gigabytes of data a month can earn up to $20 back.
Savings can be tracked through an internal dashboard and redeemed at any time — or users can hold it within Noble, which offers an annual interest rate of 5.5%.
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“Think of it as credit card rewards that grow over time, like a loyalty perk,” Noble Mobile co-founder and president, Zach Graumann, told NYNext.
Adds Yang, “Look, I’m a capitalist, but capitalism can be designed to help us be financially healthier, mentally healthier, and out and about more, connecting with each other … I hope people [see that] this ties into a real vision for an economy that works for us.”
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