Make a Mobile Call, Donate to Charity
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iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A new wireless provider is coming to the U.S. with a socially-conscious business plan.
The People’s Operator, or TPO, is a mobile wireless provider that donates 10 percent of each customer’s bill to a charity of their choice, reports USA Today. They also donate 25 percent of their profits to social causes.
Charities already featured on TPO’s site include Habitat for Humanity, Feeding America, Pencils of Promise, Save the Children and many more.
TPO chairman Jimmy Wales, who’s also the guy who founded Wikipedia, said the company can afford to do what they do by cutting back on marketing and relying on customers to spread the word.
“TPO is a place where causes can come to raise money and it won’t cost them anything,” said Wales. “For us it’s just all about bringing as many people as possible onto the platform and then, while they are, we hope they sign up for phone service.”
The company has been in service in the U.K. since November 2012, and launched in the U.S. on Tuesday. The provider has only 30,000 subscribers so far, but half of its growth has come since the beginning of the year.
“Now we are really hoping to accelerate that with the social network,” said Wales. “The whole purpose of this is to do good, to raise money for causes.”
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