Wales’ mobile network Aims to hit profit target
WIKIPEDIA founder Jimmy Wales’ mobile phone network, the People’s Operator (TPO), released its audited full year accounts for 2014 yesterday. The results showed losses widened to £2.3m in 2014, from £1.5m in 2013.
However, the insurgent mobile operator, which donates 10 per cent of each customer’s bill to a charity of their choice, increased revenue by approximately seven times year on year.
It is also debt free, and has funds after its float on the Aim market in December last year.
TPO operates using spectrum purchased wholesale from EE. It will shortly be launching in the US, using the Sprint network.
Wales, the executive chairman, is confident that the company will continue to progress and become profitable. “We are on track and ahead of targets on everything,” he told City A.M.
Discussing the numbers, he added: “The important one is the overall subscriber number, which is set to cross 30,000 today [Tuesday].”
TPO was founded by the property magnate Andrew Rosenfeld, who passed away at the beginning of February. It is clearly trying to shake up the oft-criticised mobile industry, but Wales added: “I never think about competition in my way of doing things, I just like to make things I think are cool.”
The internet pioneer is in charge of building an online community around the cause-based mobile network. “We want a social platform that people can go out and recruit their friends to raise money for a cause that they care about,” he explained.