Noble Mobile, the wireless carrier founded by entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, has acquired SmartLess Mobile, the phone service launched in 2025 by the hosts of the SmartLess podcast. Noble announced the deal on October 26, 2026, in a press release from New York.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The release also referred to a new investment accompanying the acquisition but did not give an amount or name the investor.
Existing SmartLess Mobile customers will keep their current plan prices and gain access to Noble's nationwide 5G coverage, customer support and screen-time features. SmartLess chief executive Paul McAleese will join Noble Mobile as an investor and adviser, Fierce Network reported, according to a summary by the Benton Institute.
What SmartLess Mobile built
Actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman and Sean Hayes, who host SmartLess, launched SmartLess Mobile in June 2025 together with Paul and Jeni McAleese, CBS News reported. Paul McAleese, who previously led Canadian telecom operator Shaw Communications, became chief executive, and Jeni McAleese chief brand officer.
The service is digital-only and runs on T-Mobile's 5G network, covering the contiguous United States and Puerto Rico. At launch, plans cost between $15 and $30 a month and customers could lock in their price for life. The pitch was aimed at people who own their phones, spend most of their time on Wi-Fi and pay for more data than they use. "If you're using less, you should be spending less," Arnett said at the launch.
In September 2026 the company introduced a promotional plan with 10 GB of high-speed data, unlimited talk and text for $10 a month, Telecompetitor reported. It is not clear whether that offer will continue after the acquisition.
“We don't want your life spent looking down at a screen—we want to pay you to live it.”
The founders and the funding
SmartLess Mobile's lead investor is Thomvest Asset Management, CBS News reported at launch. The amount Thomvest invested has not been disclosed, and no other funding rounds have been reported.
Noble Mobile launched in September 2025 with $10 million in funding, according to Dealroom. Like SmartLess, it is a mobile virtual network operator that rents capacity on T-Mobile's network rather than running its own towers.
McAleese said Yang approached SmartLess this summer about combining the two companies. "SmartLess Mobile and Noble share a simple conviction: your phone should connect you in meaningful ways without draining your wallet," he said in the release, adding that the combination would give the companies more scale.
Why Noble is buying
Noble's model is to pay subscribers for using their phones less. Members can earn up to $20 a month in cash back, which grows at 5.5% a year, and the average member gets back about $13 a month, according to Fierce Network's reporting. With the SmartLess deal, Noble also introduced a "Brain Rot Index", a daily score in its app that tracks screen habits, and wellness leaderboards for family plans.
"Smartphones are incredible tools, but the business models built around them thrive on compulsive consumption and cognitive fatigue," Yang said. "By bringing SmartLess Mobile into the fold, we're scaling a wireless carrier that actually aligns its incentives with human well-being."
Yang told Fierce Network that he expects AI to cut many jobs and that Americans are looking for ways to lower monthly bills. He also said that, as a parent, he believes children spend too much time on their phones.
Adding SmartLess customers is a way for Noble to gain subscribers quickly. Fierce Network reported that the combined business will have more than 50,000 subscribers once the deal is complete.
Consolidation among small carriers
The purchase is Noble's second this year. In June 2026 it acquired Helium Mobile, another low-cost carrier, and agreed to use the Helium Network, a crowd-built network of small cell sites, to extend its coverage.
Both Noble and SmartLess argue that most Americans overpay for wireless service; Fierce Network noted that the average American still spends $80 or more a month on it. The market for budget brands is crowded, however, and larger carriers have absorbed virtual operators such as Mint Mobile, Dealroom noted. Buying smaller rivals gives Noble scale it would otherwise have to win one customer at a time.
