Most Ethical Mobile Phone Networks Revealed
Ethical Consumer Research Association (ECRA) have compiled a comprehensive report on the UK’s mobile network providers, revealing factors such as who pays their fair share of tax; who uses green energy; who are fair to their workers; and who direct their revenue to good causes.
TL;DR: There are four networks who score well across the board, whilst most of the rest are dubious at best.
The four “Best Buys” in order from the very best are Honest Mobile, Meaningful Planet, Ecotalk and You Co-op.
Who Pays a Fair Share of Taxes?
20 of the leading mobile network companies were included in the report and it was only the four mentioned above plus 1pMobile and Utility Warehouse who were deemed to pay their fair share of taxes.
Ethical Consumer checked each company to find out whether or not:
- It had subsidiaries on their list of tax havens*.
- It had the Fair Tax Mark accreditation.
- It had been subject to credible secondary criticism for tax avoidance.
*If it had subsidiaries in tax havens and did not have the Fair Tax Mark, ECRA searched for evidence that the reasons were clearly not for purposes of tax avoidance e.g:
- A public tax statement confirming company policy is to not engage in tax avoidance activity, and a narrative explanation for what each subsidiary located in a tax haven is for, and how it was not being used for purposes of tax minimisation.
- Public country-by-country reporting of sales made and tax paid in each jurisdiction that does not show likely avoidance activities.
What About the Rest?
As they always do, ECRA went in to a lot of detail in their reporting on the 20 mobile network operators which you can read it in full here to find out who uses green energy, is fair to workers, supports good causes and more.
(If you are a subscriber you can see the actual rating of each company. If you don’t subscribe you can still scroll below the paywall section to read info on how your mobile network fares.)
Who to Avoid?
ECRA concluded that the four brands to avoid are Asda Mobile, Sky Mobile, Lyca Mobile and Lebara.
Who else was Poor?
VOXI, Vodafone, Three, Talkmobile, Smarty, EE and Tesco Mobile were all deemed poor.
Who were ‘Sort of Okay’?
iD Mobile, O2 and giffgaff were at the low end of average, while Utility warehouse and 1pMobile were deemed average.
Who are Good?
Honest Mobile, Meaningful Planet, Ecotalk and You Co-op (in that order) were deemed the UK’s four good mobile network companies.
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