TPO offers mobile phone services through EE's network in the UK, but stands out from the crowd by letting customers allocate 10 per cent of their monthly phone bill to a charity of their choice. Moreover, TPO - which floated on Aim in early December 2014 - plans to give a quarter of its trading profit each year to an independent foundation that will support UK charities. The strategy will be funded through savings on advertising: TPO will chiefly acquire customers through its forthcoming social media platform, which will allow users to raise money for causes and donate to charities.
We met Mr Wales at the offices of Air Capital, an investing outfit run by TPO chairman and property tycoon Andrew Rosenfeld. He ran us through the business model and highlighted rapid progress so far: TPO had over 12,000 subscribers at the start of December, more than double the number in June. At the end of October, average revenue per subscriber was £11 for its pre-paid service PAYG - well above the UK average of £5 - and £17 for its post-paid service, PAYM. It is currently spending just £8 to acquire each new customer, compared with £68 at a major UK network operator. And monthly customer churn is below 3 per cent, reflecting users' strong attachments to their chosen causes.
TPO, which is based in east London's 'Tech City', plans to use the £20m in gross proceeds from its float to polish its social media platform ahead of this year's release. It intends to launch mobile services in the enormous US market soon after - it inked a long-term agreement with carrier Sprint in September. The group expects to have 5m American subscribers and 1.5m UK subscribers by 2021, but its ambitions don't stop there: it hopes to cut deals with network operators across Mexico, Brazil, Asia and Europe over the next 18 months. Mr Parker, who sits on the global advisory board, will help to realise those worldwide aspirations. And Mr Wales, who is heading up the social media initiative, will draw on his expertise in attracting volunteers and ambassadors to Wikipedia.
Financially, it's still early days for TPO. It posted first-half sales of £132,000, giving an operating loss of £570,000 - a sharp improvement from £62,300 and a loss of £1.5m in 2013.
