Its hard to imagine that a mobile operator isn‘t out to get your money, someway, somehow – because lets be honest, most people with a mobile phone has complained about their operator service at some point or another.
Keeping this in mind, it is hard to fathom that any mobile operator would want to give back to the people; or in the case of The Peoples Operator, to a good cause.
However, this is exactly what this UK-based operator claims to do.
The Peoples Operator (or TPO), is a mobile provider based in London that pays 10% of your mobile spend to a cause or charity of your choice. Sounds too good to be true? Apparently, it isn‘t – and the company is starting to make waves all around the world.
Founded in 2012, TPO is in actual fact a virtual network operator, which means that it still relies on an existing operator network. Currently, TPO relies on EE – a British joint venture between the Deutsche Telekom and French Orange.
TPO has labeled themselves as an “˜ethical mobile network operator‘. Obviously, this draws from their policy to donate 10% of your mobile spend to a cause of your choice. When you sign up with them, you can pick a charity or cause from their database of UK-based charities.
The company has also stated that they will pay 25% of their profits to charity; although TPO is not a profitable company as of yet.
In April of 2013, TPO launched a new deal that got Brits across the UK very much interested in this new “˜ethical‘ company. For £14.99 a month, you can get unlimited calls, texts and data – a deal that will definitely make people sit up and take note.
And it seems some big players have taken note, too.
Yesterday, TPO announced that Wikipedia co-founder, Jimmy Wales, is to join the company as their co-chairman.
Wales has said that he is very impressed with both the ethical motivation behind TPO as well as their business model:
“œIts big vision is to generate massive sums of money for good causes…[sic] but when I worked though the numbers and looked at the business model, it made a lot of sense to me“ he said.
Wales‘ top priority will be to take TPO beyond Britain. His first first stop? His native of the US, of course.
Wales was also quoted as saying that “œ[they] need to go global as soon as possible“, and what better way to start that mission than by sweeping up the all mighty USA.
Along with taking TPO across the pond, mr. Wales will also help create a greater online “œbuzz“ about the company.
TPO has not used any “˜traditional‘ forms of marketing thus far, but rather relies completely on word of mouth advertising and promotion by the cause or charity that it supports – which obviously explains why we haven‘t heard much about the company up until now.
With Jimmy Wales entering the ring, TPO‘s public profile has already jumped a few levels. The question remains, however, whether they will be successful in conquering America, and then, if so, the world.
Source: BusinessTech
