co op limited type consumer co operative industry telecommunications founded 1998 1998 headquarters chipping norton london and manchester united kingdom area served united kingdom key people shelagh young chair ; vivian woodell founder and chief executive products fixed line telephony broadband fibre broadband mobile telephony telephone systems voice over ip voip leased line domain names web hosting telephone conferencing revenue 12.0 million 2015 operating income 164 614 2015 257 747 2014 414 677 2013 276 036 2012 net income 280 334 2015 2 339 940 2014 554 632 2013 424 160 2012 members 11 003 2015 number of employees 74 website thephone.coop footnotes references 1 . figures rounded from 2014 2015 annual report 2 . uk cooperative taxation means that after tax surplus is also after distributions the phone co op trading as the co operative phone & broadband the co operative business telecoms and the co operative mobile is a consumer co operative in the united kingdom which provides fixed mobile telephone and internet services including web hosting and broadband . it is 100 % owned by its customer members who democratically control the business and who share in its profits . this makes the phone co op the only telephone co operative in the uk . the co op is a social enterprise and was awarded the title of uk customer facing social enterprise of the year 2015 . 1 the business has adopted the co operative brand is a living wage employer and has been accredited with the fair tax mark . 2 the business has over 30 000 customers 3 spanning individuals businesses charities local authorities and other co operatives including amnesty international the big issue christian aid central england co operative society the centre for alternative technology chelmsford star co operative society the co operative group the council of the isles of scilly manchester city council the midcounties co operative triodos bank and unison . alongside organic growth the phone co op has acquired other telecommunications businesses most notably the telecoms business of saga group in 2010 and the broadband business of namesco in 2014 . the business provides its fixed line services through the network run by openreach using local loop unbundling and it provides mobile services as an mvno on the ee mobile network . the phone co op follows the widely recognised rochdale principles of co operation including the payment of a dividend to its members based on how much they spend with the co operative during the year . the dividend is paid out of profits generated by the co operative and for year ending 31 august 2015 was 1.5 % of each member s spend . 4 in common with many other co operatives the phone co op seeks to operate to high ethical and environmental standards publishing extensive non financial data in its annual report . it operates an affinity marketing scheme where like minded partners receive a revenue share in return for introducing its supporters to the phone co op s services . participating organisations include new internationalist positive news 5 the soil association 6 and world development movement . 7 in 2015 more than 60 000 was paid to these affinity partners . the business operates a co operative & social economy development fund which is financed through retained earnings to support the development of new social enterprises and co operatives in the uk by investing in the new enterprises in the form of share capital . over 300 000 has been invested in this way with beneficiaries including torrs hydro go op westmill wind farm co operative and the birmingham student housing co operative . 8 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit see also history of the cooperative movement 1998 founded as setco social economy telecommunications co operative incorporated as a company limited by guarantee . initially membership of the co operative was reserved exclusively for other co ops and charities . 1999 rule change opened membership to the general public in august . setco renamed itself the phone co op and converted into a co operative society incorporated under the industrial & provident societies acts . 2008 receives the uk government sponsored enterprising solutions award for best social enterprise 2008 . 9 2010 acquired the telecoms business of saga group including approximately 8 000 residential customers . 2012 awarded the green award of trade body the federation of communications services for the fourth year running . 10 2012 concluded a brand licensing agreement with co operative brands limited to use the co operative brand with three specific sub brands the co operative phone & broadband the co operative business telecoms and the co operative mobile . 11 12 2013 finalist in overall social enterprise of the year category at the 15th social enterprise awards . 13 2013 accredited as a living wage employer by the living wage foundation . 14 2013 partners with the uk charity community network to take over its teleconferencing platform allowing the charity to focus on serving its clients . 15 2014 launched a pay as you go payg sim card in conjunction with the co operative group 16 to complement the existing postpaid mobile service . available in approximately 3 800 branches of the co operative food . 17 2014 acquired the broadband business of namesco . 18 2014 became the uk s sole stockist of fairphone 1 ethical smartphones . 19 20 21 22 23 2014 invests 500 000 in public transport social enterprise hct group . 24 2015 partners with fairphone to release their second generation modular smartphone fairphone 2 in the uk . 25 2015 wins best consumer facing social enterprise award at 2015 uk social enterprise awards . 3 2016 wins growing co operative of the year category at the 2016 co operative of the year awards run by co operativesuk . 26 see also edit british co operative movement the co operative energy fairphone references edit https www.thephone.coop about us news and press 2015 december the phone co op wins national social enterprise award https www.thephone.coop about us news and press 2012 september the phone co op adopts the co operative brand a b katharine hamnett cbe and jo wood on red carpet at uk social enterprise awards . social enterprise uk . 27 november 2015 . retrieved 16 december 2015 . dividend has been applied . the phone co op . retrieved 20 may 2014 . partners . positive news . positive news trust . retrieved 11 june 2014 . business club case study the phone co op a telecoms company with an ethical ring . the daily telegraph . 3 sep 2009 . retrieved 5 june 2014 . bibby andrew 15 july 2008 . victorian model s modern take . the financial times . retrieved 5 june 2014 . https www.thephone.coop about us who we are development fund social enterprise awards . positive news . 24 november 2008 . retrieved 20 may 2014 . the fcs awards 2012 . federation of communication services . retrieved 20 may 2014 . dave bowman 4 september 2012 . phone co op joins the co operative national brand . co operative news . retrieved 20 may 2014 . bibby andrew 24 sep 2012 . the co operative gets good with phones . the guardian . retrieved 5 june 2014 . social enterprise awards 2013 . social enterprise uk . retrieved 20 may 2014 . living wage employers . living wage foundation . retrieved 5 june 2014 . rebecca horsley . the phone co op partners with community network . charity digital news . retrieved 5 june 2014 . beth brooks . co op group launches pay as you go mobile sim . the grocer . retrieved 5 june 2014 . luke westaway 7 april 2014 . co op pay as you go sim out this month . cnet . retrieved 20 may 2014 . phone co op acquires namesco broadband services . telecompaper.com . telecom.paper bv . 5 june 2014 . retrieved 9 june 2014 . millett carol . the phone co op clinches deal on ethical smartphones . mobile magazine . noble house media ltd. retrieved 20 october 2014 . the phone co op offers uk s first ethical smartphone . the guardian . guardian media group . 15 october 2014 . retrieved 20 october 2014 . ravenscroft fiona . fairphone a review . the phone co op blog . retrieved 9 september 2014 . griffiths sarah . would you buy this ethical smartphone 250 fairphone is made from conflict free minerals by happy workers . daily mail online . associated newspapers . retrieved 12 december 2014 . sparkes matthew 27 november 2014 . the ethical smartphone that appeals to your conscience . the daily telegraph . telegraph media group . retrieved 12 december 2014 . voinea anca 9 dec 2014 . the phone co op invests in public transport social enterprise . co operative news . co operative press . retrieved 12 december 2014 . https www.thephone.coop media 453457 150921 fairphone the phone co op preview news release.pdf 2016 co operative of the year award winners announced . co operativesuk . retrieved 7 october 2016 . external links edit the phone co op v t e consumer co operatives in the united kingdom central england channel islands chelmsford star clydebank co operative group east of england heart of england lincolnshire midcounties the phone co op radstock scotmid southern wine society wooldale the co operative brand retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the phone co op & oldid 743097124 categories consumers cooperativesco operatives in the united kingdomtelecommunications companies of the united kingdominternet service providers of the united kingdom1998 establishments in the united kingdomorganizations established in 1998social enterprises navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export 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