NBA champion Tristan Thompson announced at TechCrunch Disrupt that he’s partnering with global telecom company World Mobile to launch a community-owned mobile network called Uplift. The network offers unlimited data plans starting at $9.99 per month.
Uplift is built on blockchain technology and a Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN).
With Uplift, every subscription will contribute to neighborhood-level network expansion, while local hosts that are known as “AirNode operators” will earn a portion of network revenue by providing community coverage. The idea behind Uplift is to challenge the $2 trillion telecom industry’s centralized model by allowing users and local operators to share in the value they create.
“For me, it’s about, how can I help people that have walked the same life that I walked, and I think for us, what we’re doing is providing connectivity and connection for unlimited data at a way lower cost,” Thompson said on stage. “It’s like, how can I help my community have a better tomorrow? And that’s what this is about. And I’ve been very blessed and fortunate to have a team that understands this vision. And we want to help people in America, help the inner city, and just give people hope.”
While Thompson is known for his basketball career and winning the NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he’s also an outspoken advocate for innovation and inclusion. Thompson currently holds four C-suite roles across the Web3 and fintech landscape. He’s 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’s 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 latest endeavor, Thompson and World Mobile are looking to drive affordable community-owned internet access.
World Mobile says this is a tested and scalable model, as it piloted it in Reno, Nevada, where community hosts have earned more than $10,000 annually by providing coverage to underserved areas. Uplift operates on infrastructure already proven through World Mobile’s U.S. deployments, World Mobile says.
“We brought about 20% of Reno back to connectivity,” Thompson said. “When the hurricane happened in North Carolina and Asheville, Starlink went out there and try to bring connectivity, and they weren’t able to, so they reached out to the World Mobile team, and we were able to get out there and send a couple of our guys on helicopters to fly in, and we were actually the ones that brought connectivity back to Asheville, North Carolina during that hurricane.”
The new service will begin rolling out in Cleveland, Ohio, soon, and will launch in additional cities in 2026.
World Mobile notes that more than 50 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 wealth generated by mobile usage stays in the neighborhoods that create it.
