Baku, November 20 (AZERTAC). A new mobile phone network was launched in the UK on Monday, one that’s promising to shake up the status quo and offer an ethical alternative for those looking to steer clear of the big-name incumbents.

The People’s Operator (TPO) will be flicking its switch to ‘on’ later this morning, offering a quarter of its profits to good causes. And The Next Web caught up with the folk behind this new venture to get the lowdown on what the British public can expect on launch. But first, it may help to have a quick glance at the current mobile landscape in the UK. The UK already has more than fifty mobile networks.

The majority of these are what are known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), meaning they don’t own their own network infrastructure…they piggyback off the four big guys’ mobile phone masts. These are EE (formerly Everything Everywhere) which comprises of the T-Mobile and Orange brands, O2, Vodafone and 3.

The People’s Operator is another MVNO, and while the founders wouldn’t confirm which big gun would be powering its new network for contractual reasons, we do happen to know this will be EE. TPO is founded by Andrew Rosenfeld (Chair), Mark Epstein (Vice-Chair) and Tom Gutteridge (Vice-Chair).

“The challenge for me has always been to combine commerce and giving in communities,” says Rosenfeld. “So we hatched together the idea of creating a mobile phone network, that would run as a commercial enterprise but which would also help communities.”

“It’s called The People’s Operator because that’s what it’s built to do – it’s built to help people”, adds Gutteridge. “It’s built to support causes and to generate support direct to local communities. It matters because we can offer a great deal to our users – a great mobile deal – and it matters to the causes because we’re going to share a percentage of our profits with them.”

TPO will launch initially as a PAYG network only, which will likely curtail sign-ups a little to begin with, but early next year it will start offering SIM-only contracts.

In terms of pricing, it’s completely free TPO-to-TPO for texts and calls, which will obviously help with the network (pardon the pun) effect, and is a similar deal as you already get with the likes of GiffGaff.

The founders weren’t revealing too much about the roadmap for pricing when bundles and contracts come into play in the new year, but for now it will cost 7.5p per text message on PAYG, and voice calls will cost 12.5p.

But the real kicker comes in the business model TPO is operating. They’ve set up a Foundation which will receive 25% of TPO’s profits, and they’ll allocate the funds accordingly to good causes. In addition to this, a user can also allocate a further 10% to go to a cause of their choosing, a sum that comes directly from their calls, texts and data spend. Alternatively, organisations can receive 10% of call, text and data spend in respect of any customers that they help sign up to TPO.

Work started on The People’s Operator in November last year, and prior to launch the company’s founders say that they’re aiming to one of the largest telecom operators in the UK.

The new mobile network’s website has gone live as its Twitter account.