Mobal communications inc.
Mobal Communications is an international cell phone and satellite phone service provider. In the UK and Japan they trade as Mobell Communications.
Early history
Mobal (under the name Mobell) was created in the mid 1980s from a UK company called Torrent. Torrent was an industrial tool rental company serving the construction industry. When cellular phones first became commercially available Mobal started renting these them to construction companies to use on site.
The decision was made to sell off the tool rental business called Torrent, and form a new company to focus purely on renting cell phones. This new company was called Mobell.
Becoming international
As cell phones became more popular, different operating technologies were developed around the world, like GSM, CDMA and D-AMPS. This started to create problems when people traveled and still wanted to use their cell phone. If it was the wrong technology for the country they were visiting, it would not work.
Mobell started to specialize in Providing cell phone rental for international travelers visiting countries where their own cell phones would not work.
Mobell expanded with a branch in New York and a branch in Tokyo.
Why Mobell became Mobal in the US
On opening their New York branch Mobell found they could not trade with a name including the word “bell”, as this was already copyrighted in the telecoms industry by the Bell Corporation. The name Mobal was chosen.
Expanding into satellite phones
When satellite phones became commercially available, Mobal added these to their product range, allowing travelers to more far flung locations to still keep in contact.
Moving from rental to sales
In 2004 Mobal made the major move from focusing on renting international cell phones to selling them as the price of ownership dropped.
The present
Today Mobal continue to focus on selling international phones to travelers.
References
Mobal US official site: 1
Mobell UK official site: 2
Mobell Japan official site: 3