NBA champion Tristan Thompson announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 that he will partner with global telecommunications 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 based on blockchain technology and a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN).
With Uplift, each subscription will contribute to the expansion of the network at the neighborhood level, while local hosts known as “AirNode operators” will earn a share of the network’s revenue by providing community coverage. The idea behind Uplift is to challenge the centralized model of the $2 trillion telecommunications industry by allowing local users and operators to share in the value they create.
“For me, it’s about how can I help people who have lived the same life as me, and I think for us, what we’re doing is providing connectivity and connectivity for unlimited data at a much lower cost,” Thompson said on stage. “It’s like, how can I help my community have a better tomorrow? And that’s what it’s all 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 them hope.”
While Thompson is known for his basketball career and winning the NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he is also a strong advocate for innovation and inclusivity. Thompson currently holds four senior management positions across the web3 and fintech landscape. He is the director of digital capital at World Mobile and the advisory director of AxonDAOan AI-powered medical research platform inspired by his brother’s journey into epilepsy.
He is also the co-founder of Basketball Fun, a web3 platform that tokenizes NBA players, and is the chief content officer of Tracy AI, an artificial intelligence platform for real-time sports analytics.
With this latest effort, Thompson and World Mobile seek to drive affordable, community-owned Internet access.
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World Mobile says this is a proven and scalable model, having put it to the test in Reno, Nevada, where community hosts have earned more than $10,000 a year providing coverage to underserved areas. Uplift operates on infrastructure already proven through World Mobile’s US deployments, World Mobile says.
“We’ve brought about 20% of Reno back to connectivity,” Thompson said. “When the hurricane hit North Carolina and Asheville, Starlink came out and tried to provide connectivity, but they couldn’t, so they contacted the World Mobile team, and we were able to go out and send a couple of our guys in helicopters to fly, and we were actually the ones who brought connectivity back to Asheville, North Carolina, during that hurricane.”
The new service will begin rolling out soon in Cleveland, Ohio, and will launch in other cities in 2026.
World Mobile notes that more than 50 million Americans live at or near the poverty line, and many of them lack 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.
