Nobody raves about their mobile carrier. Here in the United States, we merely tolerate the companies whose profit margins we help fatten every month in exchange for the luxury of staying constantly connected. And that’s the best case scenario. But what if we could actually feel good about paying our cell phone bills? Sounds crazy, I know. But Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales doesn’t think it’s so far-fetched.
Today, U.S. mobile subscribers are getting one more option: The People’s Operator, a socially conscious mobile provider based in the U.K. is launching its service stateside with the help of Wales, who now also serves as co-chair of TPO’s board. The company donates 10% of its subscribers’ monthly bills to a cause of their choice, while itself forking over 25% of its profits to charity as well.
“We like the idea of having a more emotive proposition,” says Wales of the company’s unusual business model. “Something that you feel is a meaningful thing that you’re doing. We’re replacing massive marketing spend with massive spend on causes. I think that feels good to people.”
At launch, TPO is partnering with some big-name causes like Save The Children, The World Wildlife Foundation and Wounded Warriors Project. But the charity options aren’t limited to a short list of pre-selected causes: Subscribers can donate 10% of their bill to any valid 5013c organization, enabling what Wales refers to as the “long tail” of charitable causes, right down to the local high-school marching band.
“Every kid in the band has a phone and the parents have phones and the aunties and the uncles and the grandparents and everybody,” says Wales. “You just do the math: 10% of everybody’s phone bill. That’s a pretty substantial fundraiser for them.”
TPO is offering seven tiers of plans, starting at $9 per month for 250 minutes, 250 texts and no data, scaling all the way up to unlimited talk and text with 11 GB of data for $89. Of course, anyone considering a switch to a new carrier will want to know what sort of coverage to expect. As a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), TPO piggybacks off of the infrastructure of another provider. In the U.S., it is partnering with Sprint, so its network speeds and coverage area will be identical to that of any Sprint customer. In addition to being able to set their own prices, MVNOs are free to use their own customer service apparatus, which is something TPO has invested in with the hopes of further differentiating themselves from the usual players.
