Last year, UK company The People’s Operator (TPO) raised funds to expand to the United States and in January
officially announced that it would be launching this year with Sprint’s network. Well, according to an
article by USA Today, TPO is expected to formally launch its US offerings as soon as next Tuesday.
Much like a few other MVNOs such as Giv Mobile and Credo Mobile, TPO donates a portion of every customer’s bill to a charity organization. The company also donates 25% of its profits to various causes.
USA Today reported that TPO will have both unlimited monthly plans as well as pay as you go. Assuming prices are similar what is already offered to UK customers, then plans will likely start at around $30 with some smaller monthly non-unlimited plans available starting at $10 per month. It doesn’t look like TPO will launch with LTE service although device activations will be supported (provided you have a compatible Sprint device).
TPO was launched in the UK by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in 2012, and the company has seen quite a bit of traction for its competitive service and charitable profile.
“We offer a good value in the marketplace, so we don’t cost any extra,”
Wales told Business Insider in an interview. “But we say to you, look you can stay with your existing provider and they’ll spend more than 10% of your money on more TV commercials, billboards, magazine ads, etc, — or you can switch to us and we’ll spend it on something you care about. And then what we ask in return is that you tell your friends and your family.”
When the company formally launches, we’ll cover all of the new plan options and services to be sure to check back next week!]]>
Wow interesting article Liz.
Sorry to change subject but I followed some of your work on Verizon and it’s MVNOs. Well all though that was my interest I am hearing more and more about RingPlus. It also roams on Verizon and the plans are too good to pass up. Is it a legit company Liz? Have you profiled them? If not I hope you will as many of us consider you the authority on mobile prepaid. Thanks.
Hi Sepp! Thanks for the comment and reading!!
As an aside, I am pretty sure RingPlus also roams on US Cellular; not just Verizon. But yes, RingPlus has been making a ton of changes in the last few months and has been moving forward by leaps and bounds lately. I wouldn’t say they’re a bad option to try, but I’d be cautious about going all-in right now just because of how many big changes they’ve had in such a short time–it can only mean really good or really bad things, nothing in between. I have looked into them a little bit, but haven’t done any formal profiles or anything like that on them because, honestly, the company wasn’t really worth note until recently. I’ve definitely been keeping an eye on them and was actually considering doing, at the least, a brief overview of the company because of all the attention they’ve garnered. It’s certainly on my list!! I might wait a little bit though and see how they handle the pressures of growing as quickly as they have; it’s a lot for a little company to manage although they’re definitely way better at listening to customers than most MVNOs. If you do try them, be sure to let me know how they work for you!