Virgin Mobile

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Virgin Mobile logo
Alternative Virgin Mobile logo

Virgin Mobile is a wireless communications brand used by seven independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Mobile branded wireless communications services are available in Colombia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Chile, Russia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Poland, South Africa, and Mexico. Virgin Mobile branded services used to be offered in Australia, France, Singapore, India, Qatar and the United States.

Each Virgin Mobile branded entity acts independently from the others, thus the handsets, service plans and network radio interfaces vary from country to country. In a given country, the Virgin Mobile wireless entity is typically a partnership between Richard Branson's Virgin Group and an existing mobile network operator or mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).

Current brand license holders[edit]

Virgin Mobile Canada[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile Canada

Virgin Mobile Canada experienced substantial growth in 2008, launching approximately 60 'Virgin Mini Stores' (VMS) across the country. VMS are kiosks usually located in shopping malls that especially target the 18- to 35-year-old demographic.[1] For four years running, Virgin Mobile Canada has received J.D. Power and Associates' annual award for Highest Customer Satisfaction for Prepaid Wireless. Post-paid plans were introduced to Virgin Canada in February 2008.

Bell Mobility acquired Virgin Mobile Canada in May 2009 for CAN$142 million.[2] Some of its stores in Ontario and Quebec are operated by the largest Bell franchise, Cellcom Communications. In early 2010, Virgin Mobile Canada launched the iPhone 3G, 3GS and 4 post-paid service in Virgin Mobile Retail Stores and online, all around Canada.[3] Virgin Mobile became the fifth brand offering the iPhone in Canada, after Fido, Rogers Wireless, Telus, and Bell Mobility.

In conjunction with the launch of the third-generation iPad, Bell Mobility will allow Virgin Mobile Canada customers to access its LTE network.

Virgin Mobile Poland[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile Poland

Virgin Mobile Poland is a mobile phone service provider operating in Poland. The company launched in 2012. Being a virtual operator, Virgin Mobile does not maintain its own network, and instead has contracts to use the existing network of Play and T-Mobile.

Virgin Mobile South Africa[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile South Africa

Virgin Mobile South Africa (VMSA) is a joint-venture between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Cell C. Virgin Mobile South Africa launched in 2006. In February 2011 it was reported that Cell C's 50% stake in Virgin Mobile is to be sold to Virgin Group of the UK and Calico Investments of the Bahamas.

Virgin Mobile KSA[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile Saudi Arabia

Virgin Mobile KSA is a telecommunication company operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It offers both pre-paid and post-paid plans through over 20,000 sale points in the country. Its offering targets mainly younger population, with flexible price plans and bundles.

Virgin Mobile UK[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile UK

Virgin Mobile UK is a mobile phone service provider operating in the United Kingdom. The company was the world's first Mobile Virtual Network Operator. It launched in 1999 using the coverage of network operator One2One (subsequently renamed T-Mobile UK). Being a virtual operator, Virgin Mobile does not maintain its own network and instead has contracts to use the existing network of EE.

Virgin Mobile was bought by NTL:Telewest on 4 April 2006 before joining the quadplay of Virgin Media services when NTL:Telewest was renamed Virgin Media on 9 February 2007 and adopted a new logo in line with the entire Virgin Media group.

Virgin Mobile Ireland[edit]

Virgin Mobile Ireland was launched in 2015, at the same time UPC Ireland was rebranded Virgin Media Ireland.[4] Both Virgin Mobile UK and Virgin Mobile Ireland are operated by Virgin Media PLC, a subsidiary of Liberty Global.

Virgin Mobile Russia[edit]

Virgin Mobile Russia was launched on 27 November 2017 as mobile virtual network operator under Tele2 Russia network.[5]

Virgin Mobile Latin America[edit]

Virgin Mobile Chile[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile Chile

Virgin Mobile Latin America (VMLA) launched operations in Chile in April 2012, after receiving regulatory approval from Chile's telecommunications regulator and signing an agreement with Movistar, one of the country's leading mobile network operators. VMLA announced in June of this year its plan to become Latin America's leading mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). Since then, the company has made significant progress towards its goal of beginning commercial operations in many countries. Chile was its first commercial operation in early 2012. Richard Branson commented: "We are excited to have made such good progress towards launching our first mobile business in Latin America in Chile."This is an exciting project for Virgin and we believe Virgin Mobile Chile customers will be delighted by the services we will be offering them at launch." “We are very appreciative of Subtel’s (Chile’s Subsecretaría de Telecomunicaciones) prompt approval of our application," said VMLA's chairman Phil Wallace.[6]

Virgin Mobile won for three consecutive years the ALCO Customer Loyalty award for having the highest Net Promoting Score (NPS) index in the telecommunications industry in Chile.[7] As of January 2016 Virgin Mobile Chile has a net portability balance of 322,560 customers[8] that have transferred their phone numbers from or to other companies. This figure does not include "non-ported" customers that started with a new phone number.

Some notable product offerings include no contract prepaid plans and a variety of payment options, from top up terminals to PayPal.[9]

Virgin Mobile Colombia[edit]

Colombia was the second South American country that received the Virgin Mobile network. It launched officially plans and services on April 3, 2013, working with Movistar's electromagnetic frequency. The high rate of active mobile lines in Colombia makes this country a good place to set telecom and networks operations. Virgin Mobile took advantage of the 4G spectrum auction in Colombia in June 2013 to release more data services with the fastest mobile speed in the world.

Virgin Mobile Ecuador[edit]

Operations in Ecuador were rumored to start in 2017, using Movistar's network. On September 23, 2019, the Ecuadorian government through a twitt from its former Communications Minister (Andrés Michelena[citation needed] ), informed about the signature of an agreement that allows Virgin Mobile to start officially its operations in the country. Richard Branson (Virgin Mobile CEO) and Ecuadorian president Lenín Moreno met in NY and signed the agreement.

Virgin Mobile Mexico[edit]

In early 2014, Virgin Mobile Latin America's site for Virgin Mobile Mexico was launched. Since 10 April 2014, it has been possible to purchase micro, nano and regular sim cards through several points of sale located in shopping malls or over the internet. They have reached an agreement to use Movistar's network. In April 2014 they only offered basic prepaid service (voice SMS Data) on a pay-as-you-go basis, and were expected to introduce more diverse offers soon. In June 2016 Virgin Mobile Mexico started to offer LTE access using Band 2.

Future expansion plans[edit]

Virgin Mobile Latin America's next business-venture initiative continues with Virgin Mobile Brazil[citation needed] and Virgin Mobile Peru (in 2015)[10] and Virgin Mobile Spain in Europe. [11]

Former brand license holders[edit]

Virgin Mobile Australia[edit]

Virgin Mobile Australia (VMA) was a telecommunications company based in Sydney, Australia. They sell through over 73 retail outlets,[12] including flagship stores in Perth, Sydney, Adelaide, Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane, as well as via telesales and online. Virgin Mobile Australia operated on the Optus network.[13]

On 30 May 2018, Optus announced that they would be phasing out the Virgin Mobile brand and would transfer Australian Virgin Mobile customers over to Optus. They said the phase out would take them roughly two years. On 15 June 2018, Virgin stopped selling all postpaid and prepaid plans to customers.[14]

Virgin Mobile France[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile France

Virgin Mobile France was a mobile virtual network operator in France that began as a subsidiary of Virgin Group.

Launched in France on 3 April 2006, Virgin Mobile was the fifth mobile operator on the French market and the first MVNO by number of subscribers, with over 2 million customers. Chaired by Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, Virgin Mobile was commercialized by OMEA TELECOM, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Carphone Warehouse before it was bought in 2015 by the French communication group SFR.

Virgin Mobile Qatar[edit]

Virgin Mobile Qatar was a brand licensing partnership agreement between Virgin Group and Qatar Telecom (as Qtel Group). The new brand was launched 13 May 2010[15] over the network of Qatar Telecom (Qtel).[16] Virgin claims to be Qatar's first youth-oriented mobile brand, and offers pre-paid-only, simplified all-day tariff plans (with no distinction between peak and off-peak), with a 180-day airtime validity — which it says is the longest available in the country. Local calls are charged at QAR0.55 (US$0.15) per minute for the first five minutes used in each day, and QAR0.30 per minute after that, whilst mobile internet access costs QAR1 per 1MB. Richard Branson, chairman of UK-based Virgin Group, said: "Virgin Mobile [has] more than 15 million customers around the world ... I am proud to have partnered with Qtel to make Virgin Mobile Qatar our first mobile launch in the Middle East." The service is the eighth Virgin Mobile branded operation in the world, following on from launches in the UK, Australia, the US, Canada, France, South Africa and India. Branson added that Virgin Group is mulling further partnerships with Qtel, which has a group presence in 17 countries.

Virgin Mobile Qatar caused some confusion in the region, with various newspapers referring to the operation as an MVNO. Initially the claim was rejected by Qtel and Qatar's telecom regulator, ictQatar, the local telecommunications authority reiterating that its only a branding agreement.[17]

However, on 6 June 2010, The Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR), instructed Qtel to close all the Qtel Virgin Mobile-branded services in the State of Qatar. ictQATAR notification stated that all Virgin Mobile-branded SIM cards should be deactivated by 4 August 2010. The decision noted that "Qtel had engaged in anti-competitive conduct and an abuse of [its dominant position]", and instructed the mobile operator to remove the Virgin Mobile brand from the marketplace.[18]

Virgin Mobile Singapore[edit]

Virgin Singapore was launched in October 2001 as a joint venture with Singtel. The operations were closed down on 11 October 2002 after failing to attract a significant number of customers.[19][20][21]

Failure of the joint venture was attributed to a saturated mobile market and Virgin Mobile's positioning as a "premium" brand.[22]

Virgin Mobile India[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile India

On 1 March 2008, Virgin launched the Mobile brand in India through a franchise arrangement with NTT DoCoMo.[23] This was Virgin's seventh launch globally and its largest.[24] However, on 29 March 2008, the Department of Telecom (DoT) cleared the deal after clarification from Tata Teleservices indicated that Virgin had not entered India as an MVNO.[25]

Tata Teleservices merged the company into its existing Tata DoCoMo service on 27 March 2015.

Virgin Mobile USA[edit]

Main article: Virgin Mobile USA

Virgin Mobile USA was a no-contract mobile virtual network operator owned by Sprint Corporation. It licensed the Virgin Mobile brand from United Kingdom-based Virgin Group. Virgin Mobile USA was headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, and provided service to approximately 6 million customers.

Founded in 2001 as a joint venture between Virgin Group and Sprint Corporation, Virgin Mobile USA commenced operations in June 2002 as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), providing services via the Sprint 1900 MHz CDMA network. In 2009, Sprint Nextel bought out joint-venture partner Virgin Group, becoming the sole owner of Virgin Mobile USA.

In June 2017, Virgin Mobile dropped all Android and began to only offer iPhones to new customers under its new "Inner Circle" unlimited plan. Following the discontinuation of the plan in 2018, it began to restore Android devices to its lineup.

In January 2020, Virgin Mobile announced that it would shut down, and transfer its remaining customers to its sister brand Boost Mobile the following month. [26]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Virgin Mobile at comparecellular.com
  2. ^ "Bell Mobility acquires full ownership of Virgin Mobile Canada". Bell Mobility. 9 May 2009. Retrieved 28 July 2009.
  3. ^ "Wireless Canada: Virgin Mobile". Wireless Canada. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
  4. ^ O'Reilly, Quinton. "How does Virgin Mobile stack up against the other rival networks?". thejournal.ie. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
  5. ^ "Virgin Launches Mobile Virtual Network Operator in Russia".
  6. ^ "Virgin Mobile Latin America on track to begin operations in Chile". Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Virgin Mobile destaca en lealtad de consumidores según encuesta". Transmedia. Transmedia. 3 September 2015.
  8. ^ "SUBTEL Portability Report January 2016" (PDF). SUBTEL. SUBTEL.
  9. ^ "Virgin Mobile aceptará recargas a través de Paypal". Diario Financiero. Diario Financiero. 29 February 2016.
  10. ^ "Virgin Mobile aims to launch operations in Peru in 2015". Telecompaper. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 4 November 2014.
  11. ^ Communication, Euskaltel. "Euskaltel signs agreement to use Virgin brand for National Expansion". www.euskaltel.com. Euskaltel Press Room. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  12. ^ "Virgin Mobile Australia - Find a Store". virginmobile.com.au. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  13. ^ "Optus Acquires Virgin Mobile Australia". EFYTimes. 12 January 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 20 July 2007.
  14. ^ "Phase Out of Virgin Mobile Australia". Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  15. ^ "Qtel, Virgin Group launch new mobile service". TradeArabia. 13 May 2010.
  16. ^ "Virgin Mobile Qatar Launched". ITP.net.
  17. ^ Sutherland, Ewan. Qatar – the Regulator confirms Virgin is an MVNO not an NO, 3wan.net blog, 17 May 2010.
  18. ^ "ictQATAR Confirms the Closure of Qtel Virgin Mobile Services in Qatar". Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  19. ^ "Virgin Mobile exits Singapore market". Electronics News. 10 July 2003. Retrieved 22 August 2007.
  20. ^ "Virgin, SingTel Close Venture After Mobile Flop in Singapore (premium)". Wall Street Journal. 9 July 2002. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
  21. ^ "Last call for Virgin Mobile". CNET. 11 October 2002. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  22. ^ Akers, Lawrence (10 July 2002). "Virgin's Version". Forbes. Retrieved 22 August 2007.
  23. ^ "Virgin Mobile enters India through pact with NTT DOCOMO". The Hindu Business Line. 1 March 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  24. ^ "COAI questions Virgin's 'backdoor' entry, seeks clear policy". The Economic Times. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  25. ^ "DoT clears NTT-DOCOMO deal". The Economic Times. 29 March 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
  26. ^ https://www.theverge.com/2020/1/7/21056054/sprint-kills-off-virgin-mobile-usa-boost-mobile-transfer-february-2020

External links[edit]

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