01 / ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Samuel Brighouse
Elementary
The founder’s elementary-school chapter in Richmond—the beginning of an education rooted in British Columbia.
Explore the school’s history ↗Home / Our storyIt starts with
A CANADIAN FOUNDER. A CANADIAN STORY.
It starts with
a place called home.
A Canadian story that began with landing in Canada in 1986, grew through school years in Richmond, BC, and continued in Computer Engineering at McGill.
Meet our story ↓01 / CANADIAN ROOTS
Before a network,
there was a community.
OpenMobile was founded by a Canadian who landed in Canada in 1986 and grew up in Richmond, British Columbia.
Home is more than a point on a map. It is the neighbourhoods we grow up in, the schools that shape us, and the people we stay connected to. For our founder, Richmond became that place of belonging.
Those Canadian roots remain central to OpenMobile’s purpose: helping people stay connected, from everyday life at home to the journeys that take them further.
1986 / A NEW BEGINNING
Landed in Canada.
A lifetime of belonging.
Our founder landed in Canada in 1986. Richmond, British Columbia, became home—the community where childhood, education, and a lasting connection to Canada took shape.
Long before OpenMobile, there were school days, familiar neighbourhoods, and the everyday experience of building a life here. Those roots are part of the company’s story today.
CANADIAN ROOTSRichmond, BCA story that began in 1986
02 / THE PLACES THAT SHAPED US
School days in Richmond.
Roots that stayed.
Elementary school, junior high, and senior high in British Columbia. A Canadian education built one chapter at a time, before the journey continued at McGill.
Samuel Brighouse
02 / JUNIOR HIGH
J.N. Burnett
Junior high at J.N. Burnett continued that Richmond education, strengthening the founder’s connection to the community.
Explore the school’s history ↗
03 / SENIOR HIGH
Richmond High
Senior high in Richmond provided the foundation for the next chapter: Computer Engineering at McGill University in Montréal.
Explore Richmond High in 1953 ↗The school photographs show the places in this story at their recorded dates, not the founder’s attendance years. AI colour and restored details are interpretive; the original archive views remain available above.
FROM THE WEST COAST TO MONTRÉAL
A Canadian journey.
An engineer’s
perspective.
That educational journey continued at McGill University in Montréal, where our founder graduated at the top of the class in Computer Engineering.
Today, OpenMobile brings that engineering background to a practical purpose: creating more ways for people to connect.
McGill UniversityComputer EngineeringMontréal, Québec
Historical campus context; not a photograph from the founder’s study years.
Wm. Notman & Son / McCord Museum ↗
03 / OUR JOURNEY
Small beginnings.
A bigger ambition.
The milestones that shaped OpenMobile, carried forward from our original company history.
Explore our plans ↗- 2022THE BEGINNING
OpenMobile is born.
Openmobile was born in the garage of our founders, driven by a passion to revolutionize wireless connectivity in rural Canada.
- 2023A NEW CHAPTER
Proposed CLEC in Canada.
In 2023, Openmobile achieved a significant milestone by being approved by the CRTC as a Type IV Proposed CLEC, marking our entry into the Canadian telecommunications landscape.
- MAY
2024WIRELESS OPERATIONSBuilding our place in Canada.
By May 2024, Openmobile received approval from the CRTC to become one of the few approved wireless operators in Canada.
- Q4
2024ORIGINAL ROADMAP · PLANNEDFirst 5G base station in Kamloops, BC.
Openmobile will launch its first 5G base station in Kamloops, BC, bringing cutting-edge connectivity to this community and paving the way for future expansions.
This entry preserves the original announced plan. Completion has not been confirmed in this story.
OUR NEXT CHAPTER
Canadian at heart.
Connected by possibility.
From our roots in Richmond to connections across borders, we’re building on a simple idea: staying in touch should be part of everyday life.
Find your connection →Photographs & historical sources +
Archival photographs provide context for the places in our story. They do not depict the founder or establish dates of attendance.
- Steveston fishing boats and wharves, circa 1900 — UBC Library, Rare Books and Special Collections, Fishermen Publishing Society fonds, BC_1532_1374_006. No known copyright restrictions. Display cropped to fit.
- Richmond Secondary School, 2025 — Awesomecat713, CC BY-SA 4.0. Image displayed without alteration. This is the current building, not the former Richmond High building.
- Royal Victoria College, McGill University, 1898 — Wm. Notman & Son, McCord Museum, N-0000.25.249. No known copyright restrictions. Image displayed without alteration.
- Richmond High, 1953 — City of Richmond Archives, Photograph 1977 1 105. Linked for historical reference; photograph not reproduced here.
- Vancouver Airport administration building, circa 1939 — City of Richmond Archives, Photograph 1997 5 14. AI colourization produced for this page; original available via the image toggle. Used as historical context, not as a record of the founder’s 1986 arrival.
- Samuel Brighouse Elementary School, 2004 — City of Richmond Archives, Photograph 2004 43 166. AI-colourized restoration of the archival reference image; inferred colour and detail are not historical evidence.
- J.N. Burnett Secondary School, 2004 — City of Richmond Archives, Photograph 2004 43 122. AI-colourized restoration of the archival reference image; inferred colour and detail are not historical evidence.
- Company milestones retained from OpenMobile’s original website history. Founder biography supplied by OpenMobile.
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