History
The Lebara Group was founded in 2001 by Ratheesan Yoganathan, Leon Rasiah and Baskaran Kandiah. The founders worked on the idea at an airport cafe after seeing the imposing Telenor building on the way to the airport in Bergen, Norway. The name Lebara was coined from the first two letters of each of the founders' names.
The company's initial product was international telephone calling cards, sold through independent mobile phone shops.
In 2004, Lebara Mobile launched the first-ever low-cost international service in the Netherlands, selling SIM cards using mobile carrier Telfort, a subsidiary of KPN.
In 2007 it began using Vodafone's infrastructure in Australia and the UK. By then it had also expanded into Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. France was added in 2010.
In May 2010 it acquired the ‘Chippie’ brand and customer base in the Netherlands. Lebara said it would retain the Chippie name in the Netherlands, which is designed to address migrant communities from North and South America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia. Like Lebara Mobile's Dutch MVNO, Chippie calls are carried on KPN's network. Lebara generated annual sales in excess of €565 million in 2010, and had more than three million active customers.
In March 2011, it expanded its services by launching Lebara Money in the UK for customers wishing to send money abroad. In November of that year it signed a global deal to distribute Nokia handsets, with Lebara branding including a ringtone by Indian composer A. R. Rahman.
In 2011, Lebara’s revenue hit €648m (£504m), turning a €20m (£16m) profit. Ratheesan Yoganathan, CEO of Lebara, wants to reach one billion customers by 2020.
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