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Virgin Mobile founder to take on Big Six with backing from BP

A team of telecoms titans including the founder of Virgin Mobile, Tom Alexander, is preparing to take on the biggest suppliers in Britain’s retail energy market with a new company backed by the oil giant BP.

The as yet unnamed venture, dubbed “Project Blue Marble”, began quietly preparing to launch just over a year ago, securing licences from the energy regulator under different project names to keep it under wraps before a planned launch this spring.

In a coup for an upstart challenger brand, the venture has clinched a strategic investment deal with BP to harness its purchasing power in the wholesale energy markets. BP will supply the electricity and gas to British homes.

Mr Alexander is credited with democratising the mobile phone sector after setting up Virgin Mobile in the late 1990s and is expected to buck the classic business model of the Big Six energy suppliers.

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The proposed venture will focus on technology-led energy supply options which take advantage of the boom in “smart” digital home devices and tap growing demand for renewable power.

A spokesman said: “Energy is set to become the next digital enterprise, with smart meters, smart homes, and smart electric vehicles. We look forward to offering consumers something sustainable, different and exciting.” 

Mr Alexander’s partners, Steven Day and Andrew Ralston, were both senior managers at the Virgin Mobile before following him to his new role as chief executive of Orange in 2008 and later at EE.