3 Nov 2015 07:00
The People's Operator plc
("TPO" or the "Company")
Contract with Three UK
The People's Operator (AIM: TPOP), the cause-based commercial mobile virtual network operator ("MVNO"), is pleased to announce a new contract with Three UK.
TPO is delighted to announce that it has signed a new wholesale contract with Three UK to provide network coverage of voice, text and data to TPO's UK customers. The agreement, which targets services being rolled out to TPO customers from Q1 2016, is advantageous both from an operational and commercial perspective, and will make a significant contribution to TPO's stated goal of UK profitability by the end of 2016. Notably the agreement enables TPO to give its UK customers access to the award winning Three network, including LTE 4G services.
Mark Epstein, CEO and co-founder, The People's Operator commented: "Our new wholesale
agreement with Three UK targets delivery of award-winning mobile network coverage, including 4G, to our customers from the first quarter of 2016. It also allows us to continue to deliver competitive plans to our customers whilst marking a significant step towards the profitability of our UK business."
Lynda Burton, Director of Wholesale Three UK commented: "We are excited about partnering with The People's Operator, bringing the strength of our network to their innovative and unique social media platform that supports good causes. Three is committed to the wholesale market. TPO joins our growing stable of MVNOs on the UK's most reliable network."
For further information
The People's Operator plc Nick Dashwood Brown, Head of Investor Relations
| 020 7251 6648 |
finnCap Ltd Stuart Andrews / Christopher Raggett / Simon Hicks
| 020 7220 0500 |
About The People's Operator
The Company was founded in 2012 and currently offers customers pay monthly ("PAYM") and pay-as-you-go ("PAYG") mobile contracts. These contracts are competitively priced and allow users to direct 10% of their monthly bill to a cause of their choosing at no additional cost to themselves. In addition, The TPO Foundation, a UK registered charity, will receive 25% of the UK trading profits generated by The People's Operator LLP. A similar structure is proposed to be adopted in other countries.
The strategy of the Group is to maintain a low fixed-cost base, small staff numbers and lower levels of advertising and marketing expenditure than its competitors. In addition, as TPO operates as an MVNO, the Group is not expected to be exposed to the high infrastructure costs and large capital investment charges that traditional mobile operators can incur. This strategy is expected to enable the Group to offer customers a highly competitive pricing model with a high quality of service, whilst generating an attractive return to shareholders after donations to causes.
TPO has developed partnerships with community organisations and causes who promote TPO's products to their supporters. Under the direction of Jimmy Wales, the founder of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, the Company is also developing an online viral community to expand the global network of mobile phone customers who share in the common belief of supporting causes.
The Directors believe that this strategy is scalable into new markets around the world which offer competitive wholesale mobile network bandwidth prices and where subscriber acquisition and revenue growth can be driven quickly at a low incremental cost once network agreements have been concluded with local network operators.
TPO launched in the United States in July 2015 having signed a long term operating agreement with Sprint, the third largest wireless network operator in the USA, in September 2014. Following expansion into the USA, the Directors have identified a number of jurisdictions for future expansion of the TPO offering (Mexico, Brazil, Asia and Europe) and over the next 18 months the Group intends to negotiate a series of operating agreements with established network operators in these regions with a view to replicating the model in an increasing number of countries worldwide.
TPO was admitted to AIM on 4 December 2014 having successfully raised approximately £20 million, before expenses, through a placing at 130p per Ordinary Share which will primarily be used to invest in the development of its viral, on-line global community platform and to provide working capital for expansion.
For more information, visit: https://www.thepeoplesoperator.com.