Leap Wireless no longer exists. It was the parent company of Cricket Wireless until AT&T bought it in 2014.
Leap is gone, Cricket is not
AT&T closed its roughly $1.2 billion purchase of Leap Wireless International on March 13, 2014, paying $15 per share in cash. Leap had 4.57 million customers on February 28, 2014.
Where Leap customers went
Cricket Wireless carried on as a wholly owned AT&T subsidiary and absorbed AT&T’s Aio Wireless prepaid brand. AT&T planned to migrate Leap customers to its own network over about 18 months.
How Leap Wireless ended
- 1998: Leap was formed as a spin-off from QUALCOMM.
- March 1999: Cricket launched in Chattanooga.
- 2005: Leap launched Jump Mobile, a prepaid companion to Cricket.
- March 13, 2014: AT&T closed the acquisition.
- After the deal: AT&T folded its Aio Wireless brand into Cricket.
The history of Leap Wireless
Leap Wireless sold Cricket as a no-contract service on its own CDMA network. AT&T bought the company for the customers and the spectrum, then moved Cricket subscribers to AT&T’s network. Cricket survived as AT&T’s prepaid brand, which is why a search for Leap Wireless usually ends at a Cricket page.
How to find who holds an old number now
- Check an old bill or payment record. It names the company that billed you last.
- Run the number through a carrier lookup tool. It shows the carrier that holds the number today.
- Call that carrier and ask for the account number and transfer PIN.
- Start the port from the new carrier. Never cancel the old line first.
Your right to keep a number
Number portability is federal law, not a carrier policy. The rule is the FCC’s: Portability: Keeping Your Phone Number When Changing Service Providers.
How we verified Leap Wireless
Best Cellular tracks active carriers and defunct ones. We keep both, because people still search for brands that no longer exist. Every fact on this Leap Wireless page comes from at least two independent sources, listed below, and we leave a detail out when no source states it. Where sources disagree, this page says so. If you can document a correction, tell us and we will check it against the sources.
Tracked and active are different counts on this site. Leap Wireless counts in our tracked total, not in our active total, so it does not appear in tools built for live carriers.
Questions about Leap Wireless
Is Leap Wireless still around?
No. AT&T closed its purchase of Leap Wireless International on March 13, 2014.
Is Cricket Wireless the same as Leap?
Cricket was Leap’s consumer brand. Leap no longer exists, but Cricket continues as an AT&T subsidiary.
Who owns Cricket now?
AT&T.
How many customers did Leap have?
4.57 million as of February 28, 2014, according to AT&T’s filing.
Does BestCellular.com list Leap Wireless as an active carrier?
No. We track Leap Wireless as a defunct carrier. It counts toward our tracked total but not our active total.
Sources and verification
Facts checked October 11, 2026 against at least two independent sources:
- AT&T SEC filing, March 2014: the closing and customer count.
- Telecompetitor: AT&T completes acquisition of Leap Wireless: the closing.
- Mobile World Live: AT&T completes $1.2B Leap deal: deal value and FCC approval.
- Phone Scoop: AT&T completes Leap purchase: the close.
- Leap Wireless SEC filing, 1999: company origin.
Best Cellular. “Leap Wireless: What Happened,” BestCellular.com. https://bestcellular.com/leap-wireless/
Free to reuse with credit. Licence, sources and the full dataset. All defunct carriers are listed on carriers that shut down.
Live carriers to look at instead
Cricket Wireless is the live brand that came out of the deal.