Beyond Mobile: How Lycamobile and Allirajah Subaskaran Built a Diversified Business Empire

From a single telecommunications venture to a global conglomerate spanning eight business sectors, Lycamobile represents one of the most remarkable diversification success stories in recent business history. Founded by Allirajah Subaskaran in 2006, what began as a mobile virtual network operator has evolved into the Lyca Group, a multinational corporation delivering services to over 16 million customers worldwide. This transformation didn’t happen by accident—it reflects Allirajah’s strategic vision to create an interconnected ecosystem of businesses built around his core understanding of immigrant communities and their needs.

From Refugee to Telecommunications Pioneer

The story of Lycamobile cannot be separated from the personal journey of its founder. Born in Sri Lanka in 1972, Allirajah Subaskaran fled the country’s civil conflict in the 1980s as a teenager. His path took him first to France, where his family established a restaurant and corner shop in Paris. It was here that Allirajah identified a critical consumer need: immigrant communities desperately wanted affordable ways to call their home countries.

This insight became the foundation of his business career. After relocating to the United Kingdom, Allirajah established Lycatel, a calling card company, in 2002. By 2006, recognizing the growing ubiquity of mobile phones, he launched Lycamobile, adopting a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) model that leased network capacity from established operators rather than building costly infrastructure.

The company name itself reveals Allirajah’s cautious approach to entrepreneurship. Named after his sister Leka, he modified it to “Lyca” as a hedge against potential failure. “I didn’t want to name the company after her exactly in case it didn’t work out,” he once explained. This blend of personal connection and pragmatism would become hallmarks of his business approach.

The Diversification Blueprint: Building the Lyca Group

Lycamobile’s success provided both the financial foundation and customer base for Allirajah’s broader ambitions. Today, the Lyca Group encompasses 16 different businesses across telecommunications, media and entertainment, healthcare, travel, technology, financial services, marketing, and hospitality. This diversification represents a deliberate strategy rather than opportunistic expansion.

The blueprint for Lyca Group’s diversification follows three clear principles:

First, each business leverages the group’s existing multicultural customer base, particularly focusing on immigrant and expatriate communities. Second, new ventures maintain the recognizable “Lyca” brand, creating a unified identity across diverse sectors. Third, all businesses reflect the group’s core values of “trust, accessibility, and connectivity” that guided Lycamobile’s original mission.

This approach has created a cohesive business ecosystem where each entity reinforces the others. For example, as data usage increased among Lycamobile’s customers, the company expanded into content creation through Lyca Productions and LycaTV, providing entertainment specifically targeted to these communities.

The Diversified Empire: Key Business Sectors

The diversity of Lyca Group’s business interests demonstrates both the breadth of Allirajah’s ambition and his understanding of complementary market opportunities.

Media and Entertainment forms a substantial portion of the group’s diversified operations. Lyca Productions, established in 2014 and based in Chennai, India, has become a significant force in Indian cinema. The company produced “2.0” in 2018, which was India’s most expensive film and the fifth most expensive non-English language film at its release. More recently, the company has produced major Tamil films including “Ponniyin Selvan: I” (2022) and “Ponniyin Selvan: II” (2023).

The media division also includes Lyca Radio, launched in 2013 after acquiring frequencies previously operated by Sunrise Radio. Operating two London-based stations—Lyca Radio and Lyca Gold—the company targets South Asian communities with specialized programming including Bollywood music and Ramadan content. Complementing these assets is LycaTV, an online streaming service providing entertainment content in nine languages across 20 countries.

In Healthcare, Lyca Health operates private medical centers in the UK, including facilities in Canary Wharf and Orpington. These centers provide diagnostic services, walk-in GP consultations, and physiotherapy in what the company describes as “modern, state-of-the-art clinics… specially designed and built to provide a complete luxury private healthcare experience.” This venture holds personal significance for Allirajah, as his wife Prema serves as chairperson of Lyca Health. Prema originally studied biomedical sciences after following Allirajah to the UK, interrupting her medical studies in Sri Lanka.

The group’s Financial Services division includes Lyca Insure, offering white-label insurance products for motor, travel, life, and gadget coverage, and Lycalotto, launched in 2017 to provide access to lottery draws from around the world. These complement Lyca Remit, a money transfer service allowing customers to send funds to over 70 countries—a natural extension of the company’s focus on connecting immigrant communities with their home countries.

In the Travel sector, LycaFly provides flight and hotel packages through partnerships with airlines and hospitality providers worldwide, while the group has even ventured into its own hospitality businesses, operating restaurants in London including Bella Cosa, an Italian restaurant in Canary Wharf near the company’s office.

Global Vision, Global Challenges

As the Lyca Group has expanded globally, it has encountered both opportunities and significant challenges. Today, Lycamobile operates in 23 countries across Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa, with recent expansion focusing on African markets. The company announced plans in early 2025 to increase investment in Africa beyond its current operations in Tunisia and Uganda, with new country launches expected in the first quarter of 2025.

In the United States, Lycamobile has unveiled “ambitious” growth plans for 2025, including doubling its dealer network and introducing more localized promotions tailored to US customers. The company also aims to launch new digital brands in Spain and the US.

However, this global growth has not been without significant hurdles. In recent years, the company has faced serious legal and financial challenges. In October 2023, Lycamobile’s French companies were convicted of value-added tax (VAT) and money laundering fraud, with a fine of €10 million. In the UK, HM Revenue and Customs filed winding-up petitions for three Lycamobile companies in 2024 following a tax tribunal ruling over a £51 million VAT claim.

These challenges have prompted a strategic reorganization announced in early 2025. The company has indicated plans to streamline operations, enhance digital capabilities, and reposition for sustainable growth in what it described as “a competitive and challenging global market.” This restructuring includes consolidating functions, reducing overlaps, and automating processes, with cost savings to be reinvested in market expansion and “customer-focused initiatives.”

Philanthropy: The Foundation of Values

Beyond business, Allirajah has maintained a strong commitment to philanthropy. In 2010, he and his wife founded the Gnanam Foundation, named after his mother. The foundation focuses on supporting marginalized communities worldwide, with particular emphasis on providing support to orphans, displaced individuals, and elderly people without family support.

Since 2009, Allirajah has served on the Advisory Council of the British Asian Trust, representing Sri Lanka. The organization delivers high-quality programs in South Asia, focusing on education, livelihoods, anti-trafficking, mental health, and conservation. Most recently, the Lyca Gnanam Foundation has provided relief to rural villages in Morocco following natural disasters.

This philanthropic commitment reflects both Allirajah’s personal journey and the values that underpin the Lyca Group’s business approach. Having experienced displacement himself, his charitable work focuses on providing sustainable support to vulnerable communities rather than short-term relief.

The Leadership Vision

While Lycamobile remains the cornerstone of the Lyca Group, the diversification strategy reflects Allirajah Subaskaran’s distinctive leadership approach. As founder and chairman, he has built an organization that maintains his entrepreneurial ethos even as it has grown to employ over 10,000 people globally.

The company culture is notably personal despite its size. According to one senior executive, Allirajah “cooks for everyone and we stand around the breakfast bar and chat. Some of the most important decisions the company has taken have been over meals he’s made.” This hands-on leadership style has helped maintain cohesion across the group’s diverse businesses.

Allirajah’s business achievements have earned numerous accolades, including the Asian Achievers Awards’ Platinum Award for Businessperson of the Year, the Golden Peacock Award for Entrepreneurship, and the International Business Awards’ Gold Award for Entrepreneurship. In 2021, he received the Global Philanthropy Award, presented by US civil rights icon Reverend Jesse Jackson.

As the Lyca Group navigates current challenges and pursues new opportunities in emerging markets, its diversified structure may provide resilience against sector-specific disruptions. The company’s recent strategic reorganization suggests a renewed focus on digital transformation and geographic expansion, particularly in Africa and the US, while maintaining the core mission of connecting communities worldwide.

From its origins in calling cards to its current incarnation as a global conglomerate, the Lyca Group represents a remarkable story of business diversification. At its heart remains Allirajah Subaskaran’s vision of creating services that allow people to “connect with their families and friends across the world”—a mission as personal as it is profitable.