Virgin Mobile
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| Virgin Mobile
<tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align:center; padding:16px 0 16px 0;"> | |
| Type | Mobile Phone Service Provider |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Image:Flag of the United Kingdom.svg UK
<tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Key people</th><td>Sir Richard Branson</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Industry</th><td>Mobile Phones</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Products</th><td>Prepaid Mobile Phones</td></tr><tr><th style="text-align:right; padding-right:0.75em;">Website</th><td>www.virgin.com/mobile</td></tr> |
Virgin Mobile Ltd is a mobile phone service provider operating in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, the United States and France. The United Kingdom division is a subsidiary of NTL Incorporated.
The company was the world's first Mobile Virtual Network Operator, launched in the United Kingdom in 1999. It does not maintain its own network, and instead has contracts to use the existing network(s) of other providers. In the United Kingdom, Virgin Mobile uses the T-Mobile network. In the United States, the Sprint Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network is the carrier. In Australia, Virgin Mobile operates on the Optus network. In Canada, it uses the Bell Mobility network. In France it uses Orange. In South Africa, Virgin Mobile uses the Cell C network for coverage across the country. These networks use different technology (GSM in the UK, South Africa, Australia, and France and CDMA in the U.S. and Canada).
In all countries, Virgin Mobile offers prepaid pay as you go service. In the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and South Africa, Virgin Mobile also offer a "pay monthly" option, which allows users to pay for bills in arrears. Already very common in Britain at the time of Virgin Mobile's launch, prepaid wireless service was a very small part of the U.S. wireless market (and is still, in terms of market share, much less common compared to Europe).
In 2004, the Virgin Group floated Virgin Mobile on the London Stock Exchange, retaining a 72% stake.
Contents |
[edit] Acquisition by NTL
In December 2005 it was announced that Virgin Mobile was in talks with NTL Incorporated regarding a sale. The combination of Virgin Mobile and NTL would create the United Kingdom's first "quadruple play" media company, bringing together TV, broadband internet access, mobile phone and fixed-line phone services, and allowing NTL to use the Virgin brand.
Under the deal, Virgin owner Sir Richard Branson was understood to be planning to swap his controlling 72% stake in Virgin Mobile for a 14% holding in NTL, which would make the billionaire entrepreneur the biggest single shareholder in the combined group, and give him a share of future revenues.
The original bid of £817 million ($1.4 billion) was rejected by Virgin Mobile's independent directors, who took the view that NTL's bid "undervalued the business." Sir Richard Branson was reported to be confident that a restructured deal can be completed.
The offer was increased in January 2006, to £961m, or 372p per share.
On April 4, 2006, NTL Incorporated announced a £962.4m recommended offer for Virgin Mobile. The offer had three options: 372 pence per share in cash; 0.23245 new NTL Inc. shares for each Virgin Mobile share, worth 389p; or a 0.18596 of an NTL share, and 67p in cash, worth in total 387p.
Branson indicated that he would accept the third option. This lead to him receiving at least a 10.1% stake in the newly enlarged NTL, and helped to fund the increased 372p per share in cash for the minority shareholders.
The independent directors of Virgin Mobile indicated to NTL that they "intended unanimously to recommend that Virgin Mobile shareholders vote in favour of the scheme."
As of the 4 July 2006, NTL had acquired Virgin Mobile, delisting it from the London Stock Exchange and leaving Virgin Group with a 10.5% shareholding. In the coming months, NTL will extend the Virgin brand across its business.
[edit] Virgin Mobile UK
In the UK Virgin Mobile was launched as the world's first Mobile Virtual Network Operator in November 1999, and has over 5 million customers. Virgin Mobile UK uses the T-Mobile UK network.
[edit] Costs
Standard tariff
[edit] Virgin Mobile Australia
Virgin Mobile Australia was launched in October 2000 and now has over 500 000 customers. Virgin Mobile Australia like its sister in the UK is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator. The company uses Singtel Optus' infrastructure. This means that Optus is only used for network performance, not for features such as message centres or access points. Virgin also do all of their own billing services. This distinguishes them from network resellers who rely on the host network to do it all.
Virgin Mobile Australia's headquarters is in Sydney and sell through over 3500 outlets, including Allphones and Telechoice, as well as their own retail stores in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Richard Branson recently sold his share in the company and is now 100% owned by Optus. Virgin Mobile's marketing has been aimed at the younger demographic, using advertising campaigns featuring characters such as "5 cent" (a parody of rap artist 50 cent). Virgin Mobile offers prepaid, monthly plans and cap-plans.
[edit] Costs
Standard voice call rates cover all national landline and mobile numbers and 13 numbers, but don't include 12, 18, 19 numbers, satellite and international calls. Calls are either charged per second, or in 30 second blocks, depending on the plan. Voicemail is free within Australia for all plans. No Australian carrier, including Virgin Mobile, charges users for receiving calls. A 25¢ call connection fee (also known as a flagfall) applies to all calls. All prices are in $AU and include GST. Virgin2Virgin rates are included with all plans unless otherwise stated and apply when one Virgin phone calls another.
Virgin2Virgin Voice calls are charged at 5¢ per minute (free to receive) Standard text (up to 160 characters) are charged at 5c MMS are charged at 25¢
Prepaid Virgin Mobile Australia prepaid vouchers start to expire from the day they are 'activated'. This is the day on which the voucher credit is first used, not the day the voucher is loaded into the phone. This means a voucher can sit on a phone unused indefinitely and not expire. Once activated, the voucher will expire after a set number of days, regardless of whether the phone is topped up with a new voucher.
| $20 Recharge | $30 Recharge | $50 Recharge | $100 Recharge | $25 Motor Mouth Recharge | $25 Message Monster Recharge | Post-paid | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call credit expirary | 180 days | 180 days | 365 days | 365 days | 30 days | 30 days | n/a |
| Standard calls to non-virgin /30 sec | 35¢ | 30¢ | 28¢ | 26¢ | 10¢ | 60¢ | 35¢ |
| Standard text | 25¢ | 25¢ | 25¢ | 25¢ | 25¢ | 10¢ | 25¢ |
| MMS | 60¢ | 60¢ | 60¢ | 60¢ | 60¢ | 60¢ | 60¢ |
POU plans POU (Phone on Us) plans come with an amount of included credit equivalent to the minimum spend. Usage beyond this is charged at the standard rates. POU plans come with a free handset; the higher the value of the plan the more expensive handset that is included. Current price points are $15, $20, $30, $45 and $65 per month.
Cap plans Cap plans offer additional value over the minimum spend; for a given minimum spend the user can make calls up to a much higher Cap limit. If the user continues to make calls beyond this limit, they are charged are standard rates. There are no Virgin2Virgin rates included in Cap plans.
[edit] Virgin Mobile USA
Virgin Mobile USA is the U.S. subsidiary of the UK's Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile USA uses Sprint's CDMA-based Personal Communications Service (PCS) network. Virgin Mobile USA began operating in the summer of 2002 and was one of the first companies in the United States to offer prepaid cellular service, and was the first prepaid-only provider. As of December 2005, Virgin Mobile USA had over 3.6 million users.
The corporate office of Virgin Mobile USA, LLC, is located in Warren, New Jersey. The IT offices are located in Walnut Creek, California. Customer services are handled at its five call centers (known as "Virgin Mobile At Your Service", originally called "Virgin Mobile Central Intelligence") in Spokane, Washington, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lake City, Florida, and Dallas, Texas.
Handsets and prepaid cards are sold through various retail outlets, such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, RadioShack, Sprint Store, and major grocery and drug store chains such as Kroger, Safeway, Walgreens, Rite Aid and CVS Pharmacy. Additionally, existing Virgin Mobile USA customers can purchase prepaid airtime using a credit or debit card or a PayPal account, as well as at select bank Automated teller machines using a credit, debit or cash card. Virgin Mobile USA does not maintain its own retail stores.
[edit] Costs
There are three Virgin Mobile plans to choose from. The cost differs for each. Unlike in the UK, there is a minimum spending requirement of $20 every 90 days, or a recharge of at least $90 within three consecutive days for a "service preserver" plan that will extend the account expiration for one full year. If you register a credit card and auto top-up, you can pay $15 every 90 days instead. Customers may also purchase $10 of airtime using a credit or debit card, extending the expiration date only 45 days instead of 90. As is usual in the USA, users pay both to place and receive calls; however, unlike some other prepaid mobile carriers, there is no charge if the incoming calls are picked up by the voicemail service and if one checks voicemail messages from a landline or another mobile phone.
By the Minute — Minutes are 18 cents apiece, with no discount for more than ten minutes, as stated below. Prior to 14 June 2006, minutes were 25 cents apiece for the first ten minutes of every day, and 10 cents per minute thereafter. This option is no longer available. However, users that signed up before the rate change will continue to pay the higher rate until the newer, lower rate is requested.
By the Month — This plan allows for users to pay a specific amount at the beginning of the month for a certain amount of minutes:
| Price | Anytime Minutes | Nights and Weekends |
|---|---|---|
| $6.99 | 10 cents/minute | N/A |
| $14.99 | 100 | N/A |
| $24.99 | 200 | N/A |
| $34.99 | 300 | 1000 |
| $44.99 | 400 | Unlimited |
| $59.99 | 600 | Unlimited |
- Each call over the minute limit is $0.18/minute, billed in increments of $4.50 each (blocks of 25 minutes each).
[edit] Text message rates
By the Text — Text messages are 5 cents to send and 5 cents to receive.
By the Month — Starting in June 2006, there will be text message plans where you can get up to 1000 messages for a one time fee.
| Price | # of Messages |
|---|---|
| $1.99 | 50 |
| $4.99 | 200 |
| $9.99 | 1000 |
- Each text additional is $0.05.
During the beginning of its operations in the United States, Virgin Mobile did not support external short codes such as Google SMS (i.e., GOOGL or 46645), but beginning in August of 2006, they have started to support such numbers and services.
They silently block many popular services that have the ability to send text messages to phones, apparently in order to keep their costs down. Currently, MSN and AIM are apparently the only web-based alert services that are not blocked.
Now with VirginXL, the Audiovox Snapper, the Kyocera Switch_Back, the Kyocera Oystr, the Kyocera Cyclops, and the Kyocera Slider Sonic phone owners can use AIM. It costs $3.99 a month for 150 messages. If all 150 are used up before a month, 50 more can be added for $0.99 more.
[edit] Picture message rates
| Price | # of Messages |
|---|---|
| $.25 | 1 pic message send/receive |
[edit] Wireless data
VirginXL is Virgin Mobile USA's high speed data service. This service utilizes Sprint's PCS CDMA2000 1xRTT network. Features supported include downloadable *Java games, screensavers, wallpapers, and ringtones, *MTV content, Comedy Central content, rescue ring, wake-up calls, SpongeBob content, and the hitlist.
The phones that can utilize VirginXL service are the Audiovox 8910/Flasher V7, the Audiovox Snapper, the UTStarcom Slice, and Kyocera's K10 Royale, Switch_Back, Oystr, and Slider Sonic. All other Virgin Mobile USA phones use the slower and less functional VirginXtras portal.
On August 2 2005, Virgin Mobile launched web browsing capabilities for customers with VirginXL compatible phones. It is charged at $1.00 for 24 hours, or 500 kilobytes, which ever comes first. You may pay another $1.00 to purchase an additional 500 kilobytes of data if you exhaust the first 500 kilobytes within the 24 hour period.
[edit] Issues and Warnings
As of August 2005, Virgin Mobile is charging a 10¢ per day fee for access to VirginXtras/XL. After downloading a ringtone, for example, users must be sure to turn this charge off, otherwise they will incur the 10¢ fee every single day thereafter.
[edit] Sugar Mama
Virgin Mobile launched a program called Sugar Mama (using a name that will try to attract teen audiences) to give free airtime to users who watch their sponsor advertisements or complete surveys. They reward 1 minute of airtime for every ad watched and you can earn up to 75 minutes of airtime a month from Sugar Mama, similar to Xero Mobile.
[edit] List of phones
- Audiovox Flasher V7
- Audiovox Snapper
- Audiovox Vox 8500
- Audiovox Vox 8610
- Kyocera Cyclops
- Kyocera K7 Rave
- Kyocera K9
- Kyocera K10 Royale
- Kyocera Oystr
- Kyocera Party Animal
- Kyocera Slider Sonic
- Kyocera Slider V5
- Kyocera Super Model
- Kyocera Switch_Back
- Nokia Shorty
- UTStarcom Slice
[edit] Virgin Mobile Canada
The Canadian branch of Virgin Mobile started on March 1, 2005. They launched a large advertising campaign, focused on the 16-25 market, using phrases such as "Don't fall victim to the catch!". Virgin Mobile only sells its Canadian service on a prepaid basis. VMC is owned 49% by Bell Canada and uses its CDMA service. At the launch event in Toronto's Dundas Square, Sir Richard Branson, the daredevil billionaire and Chair of the Virgin group of companies, descended down a high tension line fixed to a Virgin Mobile billboard. After the action-packed launch event, Sir Richard Branson and Andrew Black, CEO Virgin Mobile Canada, gave a news conference to talk about the launch of Virgin Mobile Canada.
[edit] Costs
Expiry Of Top-up Cards
At launch Virgin Canada was marketed to the youth market with a youth-oriented advertising campaign. Their unique selling point to this age group was the minimal costs associated with using their service. Top-up cards could be purchased for $15 and would last for a full 120 days, thereby putting the minimum cost of the service at $45 per year. Many people also bought these for emergency phones for cars and other low-use scenarios. The advertising campaign centred around these low costs and the lack of a 'catch'.
Less than 6 months after a heavy Christmas 2005 ad campaign the dates changed, lowering the life of the top-up cards. From June 12, 2006 the $15 cards will only last for 45 days, thereby raising the cost per year to $120, an increase of 166%. The lowest price option is a $100 card that will last the full year, but this still represents an increase of 122%. The $25 cards last for 90 days, which totals to $101 per year, where the $50 top-ups lasts only 120 days, which is the most expensive of all - $152 per year.
Minute 2 Minute Plan
For normal (intra-CITY) calls, it costs $0.25CAD per minute for the first 5 minutes used per day for calls made or received. After that period, the cost is $0.15CAD per minute for the rest of the day.
Day 2 Day Plan
For $0.40CAD per day, all calls made or received (within your local service area) are charged $0.10CAD per minute, any time of day. The $0.40CAD is deducted daily, at approximately 1:00AM - 3:00AM, even on days when the phone is not in use.
All Nighter Plan
For $24.00CAD per month, calls are unlimited from 6:00PM - 5:00AM. After that period, the cost is $0.20CAD per minute. For $7.00CAD extra per month, incoming calls are unlimited.
Monthly Rate Plans
Virgin has a number of monthly rate plans labelled S, M, L, XL and XXL[3]. The Small plan costs $0 per month and has a fee of 25 cents per minute. At the other end of the spectrum, the XXL plan costs $40 per month includes 100 weekday minutes and unlimited evenings and weekends which run from 7 pm in the evening to 7 am in the morning as well as a cost of 30 cents per minute for overage.
Others
Long distance (out of city or to the U.S.) calls are charged at an additional $0.25CAD per minute. International calling rates are listed on Virgin Mobile Canada's website, and range from $0.85CAD to $5.00CAD plus applicable airtime.
Text messages are $0.05CAD to send to other Virgin Mobile Canada subscribers, $0.10CAD to send to non Virgin Mobile Canada subscribers in Canada or the U.S., and $0.25CAD to send internationally. Receiving text messages is free. Picture messages are $0.50CAD to send, free to receive.
There are no roaming fees. Top ups last different amounts depending on the top up amount. Virgin Mobile Canada's "days" start at 5:00AM in the timezone you are located in and end at 4:59AM the next day. This is both applicable to voice call fees and wireless data fees.
[edit] Wireless data
Virgin Mobile Canada's data service is called VXL. Features supported include downloadable games, screensavers, wallpapers, and ringtones.
VXL is available on all Virgin Mobile Canada phones. Viewing the VXL main menu is free, however viewing pages beyond that will cost $0.10CAD per day. Costs for games, ringtones, etc. are available at Virgin Mobile Canada's website.
It should be noted that VXL does not provide access to WAP sites other than those run by Virgin Mobile — in other words, it is presently not possible to use Virgin Mobile phones in Canada to surf the web. There is also no support for instant messaging of any kind (besides SMS/MMS).
[edit] List of phones
- Audiovox 8910
- Audiovox 8915
- Nokia 2125i
- Nokia Groove 3155i
- Nokia 6275i
- LG 3300
- Samsung a640
- Motorola V3C
[edit] Virgin Mobile South Africa
[edit] Costs
Virgin South Africa offer three different voice tarrif plans: V0, V100 and V500. The numbers 0, 100 and 500 refer to the amount of money in Rands, the subscriber has committed to spending per month. The subscriber's plan determines the initial rate (first 5 voice minutes of the day) all other charges are consistent across the plans.
Charges are as follows
[edit] See also
- Virgin Group
- Chrismahanukwanzakah — This was a fake holiday (an amalgamation of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza) that was the center of a popular Christmas 2004-5 ad campaign in North America.
[edit] Better Business Bureau Information on Virgin Mobile
Based on BBB files, this company has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau due to a pattern of complaints filed against the company and due to unanswered complaints. The company has resolved most complaints presented by the Bureau; however, some complaints remain unresolved and some are unanswered.
[edit] External links
- Virgin Mobile
- Virgin Mobile UK
- Virgin Mobile Australia
- Virgin Mobile USA
- Virgin Mobile Canada
- Virgin Mobile South Africa
- Virgin Mobile France
- virginbrand.com Unofficial blog of the Virgin Group
- Virgin Mobile USA Authorized Retailer Program
- [4] Better Business Bureau Entry
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