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The People's Operator

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The People's Operator LLP
Company typeLimited Liability Partnership
IndustryMobile Phones
Founded2012
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Key people
Mark Epstein (CEO),
Jimmy Wales (Chairman)
ProductsMobile Telephony
Websitethepeoplesoperator.com
tpo.com

The People's Operator (TPO) is a mobile virtual network operator that provides mobile phone services in the United Kingdom and the United States via the EE and the Sprint networks, respectively. It was launched in 2012, with the stated aim of being an ethical mobile network operator. TPO asserts that the service gives customers the opportunity to support their selected causes and receive updates on how their money is being spent, while businesses can fulfill their corporate social responsibility commitments.[1] The company's stock dropped nearly 90 percent in value in its first year and a half.[2]

History

Former logo

2012–2013: Launch

TPO was launched on 19 November 2012. At launch, it was owned entirely by its three co-founders, Andrew Rosenfeld, Tom Gutteridge and Mark Epstein.[3] The organisation is based in Shoreditch, London. It was established with the stated aim of being an ethical mobile phone operator.[4] At launch, Rosenfeld was the Chairman, with Gutteridge and Epstein as vice-chairs, and Alex Franks as the chief executive.[5][6]

2014–present: Partnership with Jimmy Wales and expansion

On 20 January 2014 TPO announced that Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales had joined the organisation on a £250,000 annual salary[7] as co-chair of the board, and had "taken a strategic stake in the business." Wales was quoted as saying that "TPO has huge potential for viral growth and the more it grows, the more money will pass to the people and communities that need it."[8][9] TPO announced in January 2014 that it is aiming to launch its services in the United States and Europe within the next 12 months.[8][10] In October 2014, the company announced that it intended to list on London's Alternative Investment Market. It was estimated by Oscar Williams-Grut that the company could be worth ₤100 million upon its initial public offering.[11]

2015: US launch

Shortly after the December 2014 initial public offering raised £20 million of new money for TPO, the company's stock was reviewed in The Telegraph, which calculated the firm's value at less than £1 million, or a mere 1.3 pence per share, yielding an "Avoid" rating. However, the review noted that House broker finnCap disagreed, placing a 250-pence target price on the shares, and expected TPO to generate £98 million revenue and pre-tax profits of £17.1 million by the end of 2016.[12]

TPO officially launched in the United States on July 21, 2015.[13][14] The service runs as an MVNO on top of the Sprint wireless CDMA network, since its inception, and T-Mobile US wireless GSM network, which commenced the week of March 21, 2016. It offered prospective customers a $32-per-month option with unlimited talk time and text messages and 2 gigabytes of data.[15][16]

In late September 2015, the company reported its financial performance through the first six months of the year, revealing it had significantly widened its pretax loss to £4,400,000, from a year-earlier loss of only £600,000.[17]

2015–16: collapse in share price

Between October 2015 and March 2016, the company saw a collapse in its share price from 130p to below 30p.[18] The Times ran a June 2016 story noting that it has dropped nearly 90 percent since its initial offering.[2]

Services

As a mobile virtual network operator, TPO does not own any network infrastructure, but instead uses the EE network to provide its services in the United Kingdom[3] (although it did not initially disclose which network it would use),[19] and the Sprint network in the United States. It uses the virtual network aggregator Transatel to connect to the EE network.[6]

Since it was launched, TPO has offered pay-as-you-go services.[3] The organisation does not have stores, operating entirely online, but it has an in-house call centre.[4]

At launch, the costs of calls and texts were deemed competitive with other mobile phone operators, costing 12.5p/minute for calls (with free calls between TPO users), 7.5p/text and 12.5p/MB for data.[5] It was noted that the company may need to offer a better data rate,[19] which was later halved.[20] TPO started offering monthly contracts in April 2013, at prices between £5 and £25.[21][22]

The People's Operator announced that it would be moving to the Three UK network in the first quarter of 2016, which would give its customers LTE 4G services. [23]

The People's Operator Foundation

25% of TPO's profit goes to The People's Operator Foundation, which is an independent group that funds charities and community groups in the UK. In addition, customers can optionally give 10% of the amount they spend on calls, texts and data[3] (pre-VAT)[4] to a specific charity or community group. Organisations that sign up new customers to TPO also receive 10% of the customer's call, text and data spend.[3] In order to not cost its customers more than other networks, this 10% comes from TPO's marketing budget.[9]

TPO established partnerships with NSPCC, The Trussell Trust, Dimbleby Cancer Care and Childline prior to its launch,[4][5] and by April 2013 it had partnered with the Children’s Heart Foundation, RE:generate and Caxton House, and was planning a partnership with The Big Issue Foundation.[21][22]

In September 2013, the Labour Party also announced a partnership with TPO; according to Wired UK, party members are encouraged to "sign up to the mobile operator in order to give 10 percent of their bill back to the party."[24] Unite the Union, a British and Irish trade union, has a similar TPO partnership.[24] In November 2013 The Daily Telegraph reported that Unite's deal with TPO included free phone calls and texts for members of its strike committee and that this capability was being used as a part of a "campaign of intimidation" against bosses at the Grangemouth Refinery.[25] In November 2013, Rosenfeld, a Labour Party donor, denied to The Times that The People's Operator "had aided Unite in dirty tricks campaigns during industrial disputes."[26]

As of January 2014 TPO had also partnered with Islington Giving, and Wales hopes that the foundation will also support Wikipedia in the future.[9]

TPO Foundation is a registered charity,[27] and as of 2012 the trustees were Sir Christopher Kelly (chair), Kevin Curley, and Andrew Rosenfeld.[6] On 8 February 2015, Rosenfeld died after a short illness.[28] In October 2015, it was announced that Rosenfeld's son James had been appointed as a non-executive Director of the firm.[29]

TPO Community

In 2015 The People's Operator launched its TPO Community, an advertisement-free social network.[30] The community offers users a space where they can talk about the charities and causes they support and donate to the causes directly. The Community website was also supported in a press release by Jimmy Wales [31][32]

References

  1. ^ The People's Operator About-Us (Accessed: 01-Oct-14)
  2. ^ a b Investors hang up on Wikipedia founder, The Times, Nic Fildes, 15 June 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Ethical Mobile Phone Network The People's Operator Launches". International Business Times. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  4. ^ a b c d "New UK mobile network The People's Operator aims to be ethical". Pocket Lint. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  5. ^ a b c "The People's Operator launches as charitable mobile network". Digital Spy. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  6. ^ a b c "Charitable Mobile Network TPO Pitches Itself As 'The People's Operator'". Huffington Post UK. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  7. ^ AIM Admission document; The People’s Operator plc (incorporated and registered in England and Wales with registered no. 09083874) Placing of 15,384,616 Ordinary Shares at 130 pence per share and Admission of Enlarged Share Capital to trading on AIM; 28 November 2014
  8. ^ a b Carol Millett (20 January 2014). "Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales joins The People's Operator". Mobile magazine. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  9. ^ a b c "Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales backs 'viral mobile network' The People's Operator". The Telegraph. 20 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  10. ^ "Jimmy Wales takes his Wikipedia learnings to the mobile industry as Co-Chair of The People's Operator". TheNextWeb. 20 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  11. ^ Williams-Grut, Oscar (13 October 2014). "Wikipedia founder backs People's Operator plans AIM listing". Evening Standard. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  12. ^ Ficenec, John (13 January 2015). "The People's Operator is overvalued". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  13. ^ Tweedie, Steven (21 July 2015). "Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is launching a social network and phone service to make it easier to donate to charity". Business Insider. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  14. ^ Titlow, John Paul (21 July 2015). "Jimmy Wales Wants You To Feel Good About Paying Your Cell Phone Bill". Fast Company. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
  15. ^ Fried, Ina (2015-07-21). "Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Brings Charity Mobile Network to U.S." Re/code. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
  16. ^ Connolly, Amanda (21 July 2015). "Wikipedia founder launches The People's Operator ad-free social network for social good". The Next Web. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
  17. ^ "TPOP's loss". Interactive Investor; StockMarketWire. 29 September 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  18. ^ "The People's Operator PLC (LON:TPOP) – historical prices". Google Finance.
  19. ^ a b "Charitable mobile network The People's Operator launches". BBC News. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  20. ^ "The People's Operator interview". Mobile Network Comparison. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  21. ^ a b "The People's Operator adds contracts to offering". Mobile News. 10 April 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  22. ^ a b "The People's Operator launches rolling monthly contracts". Mobile Today. 10 April 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  23. ^ "The People's Operator partners with Three UK and targets 4G launch". The People’s Operator. 3 November 2005. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  24. ^ a b Olivia Solon (20 January 2014). "Jimmy Wales joins mobile network The People's Operator". Wired. See also the endorsement on the Unite the Union website.
  25. ^ Hayley Dixon (1 November 2013). "Company set up by Labour donor aids Unite union". Daily Telegraph. p. 14. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  26. ^ Laura Pitel (November 2, 2013). "Labour rivals head for first clash since 'union fix' scandal". The Times. p. 37.
  27. ^ "The People's Operator turns your calls and texts into charity". CNet. 19 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  28. ^ "Labour donor Andrew Rosenfeld dies aged 52". Financial Times. 2015-02-09. Retrieved 2015-08-13.
  29. ^ The People's Operator: Appointment of Non-Executive Director; RNS Number: 4892D; 27 October 2015.
  30. ^ "Ad-free social network to bring social element to charity". Dial2Donate. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  31. ^ "Jimmy Wales and The People's Operator launch new social network TPO.com". The People's Operator. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  32. ^ "We've just launched the TPO Community!". The People's Operator. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.

External links

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