Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, has introduced his new venture-a mobile service provider. The network is named TPO, or The People's Operator. TPO donates 10 percent of a user's monthly bill to charity, automatically. Wales aims to maximize the use of cellphones for social good.
The mobile carrier has been announced in the United States on July 21, Tuesday. The charity to which a percentage of the bill will be donated is chosen by the user himself. The People's Operator has first been opened in the United Kingdom, and Wales said that it will also give 25% of all its profits to charity.
The People's Operator will not be charging extra in order to allot certain amounts for charitable purposes. The rates are similar to other mobile service providers. In a Mashable report, TPO's prepaid pricing has been revealed to be at a range of $9 to $89, depending on how big the data is, and how many free texts and calls there is. The $89 package is the most expensive among the prepaid services offered. Called "Goodness-to-Go-Bananas", it offers 11GB data and unlimited texts.
There are also postpaid plans for $32 and $86. The $32 has a data of 2 GB, with unlimited text and talk. The $86, on the other hand, provides 11 GB data, also with unlimited text and talk offers.
To be able to give to charity without hiking prices, Wales said that TPO does not spend on advertisements, unlike other service providers. TPO.com, the online social networking arm of the service provider, is currently being tested. The site is free of advertisements, in line with Wales' direction for TPO.
The web platform lets users raise money for causes of their choice, or even ones that they have taken the initiative to give attention to and raise awareness for. TPO has partnered with philanthropic and human rights groups such as the World Wildlife Fund and Action Against Hunger. The People's Operator is not charging charities that are using its services.
"A lot of the donation platforms out there charge commission, sometimes as high as 8%. We don't really want to do that as a business model. For us, it's about engaging with potential customers of the phone service. A lot of the causes are pretty intrigued by that," Wales was quoted in Mashable.
The service banks on its involvement in the social good and the wide usage of mobile phones. In TPO's official website, the team behind it said, "TPO was established by a founding team that has led the way in campaigning for charitable causes, non-profit organisations and ethical groups. We know the power of mobile can make good things happen. And now we want to take it to the next level."
