NBA champion Tristan Thompson announced at TechCrunch Disrupt that he is partnering with the global telecom company World Mobile to launch a community-owned mobile network called Uplift. The network will offer unlimited data plans starting at $9.99 per month.
Uplift is built on blockchain technology and a Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network, or DePIN. With this model, every subscription contributes to expanding the network at a neighborhood level. Local hosts, known as AirNode operators, earn a portion of the network revenue by providing community coverage. The idea behind Uplift is to challenge the centralized model of the two trillion dollar telecom industry by allowing users and local operators to share in the value they create.
Thompson explained his motivation on stage, stating that for him, it is about helping people who have walked the same path he has. He said they are providing connectivity and unlimited data at a much lower cost. He expressed a desire to help his community have a better tomorrow and to give people hope, acknowledging his team for understanding this vision. The goal is to help people in America, particularly in inner cities.
While Thompson is known for his basketball career and winning an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he is also an advocate for innovation and inclusion. He currently holds four executive roles in the Web3 and fintech landscape. He is the chief digital equity officer at World Mobile and the chief advisory officer at AxonDAO, an AI-powered medical research platform inspired by his brother’s epilepsy journey. He is also the co-founder of Basketball Fun, a Web3 platform that tokenizes NBA players, and the chief content officer at Tracy AI, an AI platform for real-time sports analytics.
With this new endeavor, Thompson and World Mobile aim to drive affordable community-owned internet access. World Mobile says this is a tested and scalable model, having been piloted in Reno, Nevada. There, community hosts earned more than ten thousand dollars annually by providing coverage to underserved areas. Uplift operates on infrastructure already proven through World Mobile’s previous US deployments.
Thompson shared that their efforts brought about twenty percent of Reno back to connectivity. He also recounted how during a hurricane in North Carolina, the city of Asheville lost connectivity. Starlink was unable to restore it, so they reached out to World Mobile. Thompson said his team sent people on helicopters and were the ones who successfully brought connectivity back to Asheville.
The new Uplift service will begin rolling out in Cleveland, Ohio, soon, with launches in additional cities planned for 2026. World Mobile notes that more than fifty million Americans live at or near the poverty line, with many lacking access to affordable high-speed data. Uplift aims to expand access while ensuring that the wealth generated by mobile usage stays in the neighborhoods that create it.