LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 24, 2025--
Elf Labs, the next-gen entertainment company behind more than 100 historic trademark victories at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, has signed a $3.5 million development deal with telecom giant CompaxDigital. The partnership supports the launch of Elf Mobile, a first-of-its-kind, content-rich wireless service that fuses nationwide 5G connectivity with immersive, family-focused entertainment built around iconic characters.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250424914809/en/
Set to debut in early 2026 and powered by T-Mobile’s leading 5G network, Elf Mobile will offer unlimited talk, text, and data alongside exclusive access to Elf Labs’ expansive intellectual property (IP) universe, including classic and reimagined versions of Pinocchio, Snow White, Peter Pan, Belle, The Little Mermaid, and more. Delivered through mobile-first formats, including streaming content, AR/VR, games, audio, and interactive stories, the content is curated for each subscriber and designed for safe, shared family engagement.
A Next-Gen Telecom Alliance with Global Reach
CompaxDigital, whose telecom infrastructure serves over 35 million users globally, will provide core network systems, technical operations, compliance frameworks, and customer service. Elf Labs will lead next-gen content creation, branding, and marketing, allowing each partner to play to its strengths.
“Most mobile plans give you data. We’re giving you a reason to use it,” said David Phillips, CEO of Elf Labs. “Elf Mobile is about making stories part of everyday life, right alongside calls, texts and everything else families already do on their devices.”
A New Model for IP, Media & Telecom
Unlike traditional carriers that bundle third-party content, Elf Mobile is built around original IP. At launch, subscribers will have access to curated content libraries, built-in AI-powered parental controls and multi-format storytelling. Future phases will introduce interactive experiences, user-generated content and live digital events.
“This model flips the script,” said Frank von Seth, CEO of Compax MVNO Venture AG. “Instead of selling access and layering content on top, we’re starting with culture and building the network around it. That’s a fundamental shift in how mobile can serve communities and foster belonging.”
With more than 400 copyrights and 140 trademarks, Elf Labs’ portfolio spans award-winning books, animation, immersive games and licensed products. The launch of Elf Mobile opens a new direct-to-consumer channel for monetizing IP, while offering families a value-rich, story-driven wireless plan.
For updates and more information, visit www.elflabs.com.
About Elf Labs:
Elf Labs, along with its subsidiaries, is a next-generation, technology-powered IP studio and distribution company that creates high-value intellectual property franchises. The company owns the Junior Elf book catalog, including iconic characters such as Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, and more. Through their mastery of storytelling and world-building, as well as their revolutionary tech stack, Elf Labs captivates audiences with unforgettable characters and immersive narratives.
About CompaxDigital:
CompaxDigital is a leading provider of innovative BSS/OSS solutions, empowering telecommunications companies worldwide to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences, and drive business growth. With a focus on agility, modularity, and cutting-edge technology, CompaxDigital delivers solutions that meet the evolving needs of the modern telecom industry.
Elf Labs has signed a $3.5 million development deal with CompaxDigital to launch Elf Mobile—the first wireless service built around iconic character IP and immersive family entertainment. Powered by T-Mobile’s network, the service will blend 5G connectivity with immersive original content and branded experiences inspired by beloved classics like Snow White, Pinocchio, and Peter Pan. (Photo: Elf Labs)
VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Belarus freed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, key opposition figure Maria Kolesnikova and dozens of other political prisoners on Saturday, capping two days of talks with Washington aimed at improving ties and getting crippling U.S. sanctions lifted on a key Belarusian agricultural export.
President Alexander Lukashenko pardoned 123 prisoners, Belarus’ state news agency, Belta, reported. In exchange, the U.S. said it was lifting sanctions on the Eastern European country's potash sector,
A close ally of Russia, Minsk has faced Western isolation and sanctions for years. Lukashenko has ruled the nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for more than three decades, and the country has been repeatedly sanctioned by the West for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory during the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
John Coale, the U.S. special envoy for Belarus who met with Lukashenko in Minsk on Friday and Saturday, described the talks to reporters as “very productive" and said normalizing relations between the two countries was “our goal,” Belta reported.
“We’re lifting sanctions, releasing prisoners. We’re constantly talking to each other,” Coale said, adding that the relationship between the U.S. and Belarus was moving from “baby steps to more confident steps” as they increased dialogue, the Belarusian news agency reported.
Belarus has released hundreds of prisoners since July 2024. Among the 123 freed Saturday were a U.S. citizen, six citizens of U.S. allied countries, and five Ukrainian citizens, a U.S. official told The Associated Press in an email. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private diplomatic negotiations, described the release as “a significant milestone in U.S.-Belarus engagement” and “yet another diplomatic victory” for U.S. President Donald Trump.
The official said Trump’s engagement so far “has led to the release of over 200 political prisoners in Belarus, including six unjustly detained U.S. citizens and over 60 citizens of U.S. Allies and partners.”
Pavel Sapelka, an advocate with the Viasna rights group, confirmed to the AP that Bialiatski and Kolesnikova were among those released.
Bialiatski, a human rights advocate who founded Viasna, was in jail when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 along with the prominent Russian rights group Memorial and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties. He was later convicted of smuggling and financing actions that violated public order — charges that were widely denounced as politically motivated — and sentenced to 10 years in 2023.
Bialiatski told the AP by phone Saturday that his release after 1,613 days behind bars came as a surprise — in the morning, he was still in an overcrowded prison cell.
“It feels like I jumped out of icy water into a normal, warm room, so I have to adapt. After isolation, I need to get information about what’s going on," said Bialiatski, who seemed energetic but pale and emaciated in post-release videos and photos.
He vowed to continue his work, stressing that “more than a thousand political prisoners in Belarus remain behind bars simply because they chose freedom. And, of course, I am their voice."
Kolesnikova, meanwhile, was a key figure in the mass protests that rocked Belarus in 2020 and is a close ally of an opposition leader in exile, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
Known for her close-cropped hair and trademark gesture of forming a heart with her hands, Kolesnikova became an even greater symbol of resistance when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her in September 2020. Driven to the Ukrainian border, she briefly broke away from security forces at the frontier, tore up her passport and walked back into Belarus.
The 43-year-old professional flutist was convicted in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to seize power and sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Among the others who were released, according to Viasna, was Viktar Babaryka — an opposition figure who had sought to challenge Lukashenko in the 2020 presidential election, widely seen as rigged, before being convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison on charges he rejected as political.
Viasna reported that the group's imprisoned advocates, Valiantsin Stefanovic and Uladzimir Labkovich, and prominent opposition figure Maxim Znak were also freed. But it later said it was clarifying its report about Stefanovic's release, and Bialiatski told the AP that Stefanovic had not been freed, though he hopes he will be soon.
Most of the freed prisoners were sent to Ukraine, Franak Viachorka, Tsikhanouskaya’s senior adviser, told the AP. Eight or nine others, including Bialiatski, were being sent to Lithuania on Saturday, and more prisoners will be taken to the Baltic country in the next few days, Viachorka said.
Ukrainian authorities confirmed that Belarus had handed over 114 civilians, including five Ukrainian nationals. Freed Belarusian nationals “at their request” and “after being given necessary medical treatment” will be taken to Poland and Lithuania, they said.
Lukashenko’s press secretary, Natalya Eismont, said those released were sent to Ukraine because Kyiv was to free several imprisoned Belarusian and Russian nationals as part of the deal, although Ukrainian officials haven't confirmed the claim yet.
When U.S. officials last met with Lukashenko in September, Washington eased some of the sanctions on Belarus while Minsk released more than 50 political prisoners.
“The freeing of political prisoners means that Lukashenko understands the pain of Western sanctions and is seeking to ease them,” Tsikhanouskaya, the opposition leader in exile, told the AP on Saturday.
She added: “But let’s not be naive: Lukashenko hasn’t changed his policies, his crackdown continues and he keeps on supporting Russia’s war against Ukraine. That’s why we need to be extremely cautious with any talk of sanctions relief, so that we don't reinforce Russia's war machine and encourage continued repressions.”
Belarus, which previously accounted for about 20% of global potash fertilizer exports, has been forced to sharply cut them after Western sanctions targeted state producer Belaruskali and cut off transit through Lithuania’s port in Klaipeda, the country’s main export route.
“Sanctions by the U.S., EU and their allies have significantly weakened Belarus’s potash industry, depriving the country of a key source of foreign exchange earnings and access to key markets,” Anastasiya Luzgina, an analyst at the Belarusian Economic Research Center BEROC, told the AP, noting that Minsk likely hopes this paves the way for easing the more painful European sanctions.
The latest round of U.S.-Belarus talks also touched on Venezuela, as well as Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Belta reported.
Coale told reporters that Lukashenko had given “good advice” on how to address the war, saying that Lukashenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin were “longtime friends” with “the necessary level of relationship to discuss such issues.”
The U.S. official told the AP that “continued progress in U.S.-Belarus relations" also requires steps to resolve tensions between Belarus and neighboring Lithuania, which is a member of the EU and NATO.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda welcomed the prisoners’ release, praising their “remarkable courage” in a post on X and adding that “Lithuania stands with them and all who strive for freedom.”
The Lithuanian government this week declared a national emergency over security risks posed by meteorological balloons sent from Belarus. The balloons forced Lithuania to repeatedly shut down its main airport, stranding thousands of people.
Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
A woman holds an Old Belarusian flag as she stands waiting released Belarusian prisoners at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
A motorcade arrives at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya speaks to journalists as she waits to meet released Belarusian prisoners at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski, one of released Belarusian prisoners, arrives at the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius, Lithuania, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, as Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, background stands near. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
In this photo released by Belarusian presidential press service, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, right, and U.S. Presidential envoy John Coale shake hands during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (Belarusian Presidential Press Service via AP)
