The liberal political advocacy group People For the American Way on August 3rd introduced a new use for the Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) business model: sign up for our service and fund us at the same time.
People For the American Way on August 3rd issued a press release announcing a partnership with Working Assets Wireless to create a virtual operator called “Democracy Wireless.” Under the terms of the virtual operator, 10% of the proceeds will go the progressive foundation for People For the American Way to fund their various advocacy campaigns. According to the Democracy Wireless web site, the underlying partner, Working Assets Wireless, is an MVNO operating on Sprint’s CDMA network, and:
Democracy Wireless is powered by Working Assets, the progressive phone company. Since 1985, Working Assets has generated more than $50 million for progressive nonprofits — including almost $600,000 to PFAW and PFAW Foundation.
The site even promises to provide an account credit up to $175 for the termination fee charged to any customer switching to Democracy Wireless. As the political campaigns for President and Congress start to heat up, it should prove interesting to see if such a political partnership will prove significant as a way of funding political activity.
