Right now the bills we pay to our carriers is in exchange for their services and also to help keep the company alive and to maintain and expand its infrastructure, or at least that’s where some of our money goes. Now if you’re looking to do a bit of charity at the same time, then perhaps you might be interested in a newly launched carrier in the US called The People’s Operator (TPO).This venture is spearheaded by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and it actually follows a similar concept in the UK where 10% of your monthly bill is automatically donated to charity. The charity the carrier donates to will be entirely up to you, and best of all at the end of the year, the carrier will donate 25% of its annual profits to charity as well.
Now before you think that the 10% donated will result in a 10% price hike on their services, think again. TPO’s rates will be priced similarly to the competition. For example one of their plans offered starts as low as $9 a month which offers 250 minutes and 250 text messages, while a more expensive option at $89 will include unlimited talk and text and 11GB of data.
According to Wales who spoke to Mashable, “We don’t do any of the kinds of heavy advertising that all the other cellphone providers do. Instead of sticking with your current provider, which will spend more than 10% of your money on more TV commercials, you can switch to us. We’ll spend it on something you care about, and all we ask in return is to recruit other people … to raise money for whatever you love. all we ask in return is to recruit other people … to raise money for whatever you love.”