Company Press Release:
 

Geography is history - Call anywhere in India @ just 50 paise/minute on prepaid
 

New Delhi, October 14, 2008: Close on the heels of its industry defining proposition, “Get Paid for Incoming”, Virgin Mobile, India’s first nation-wide youth focused mobile service, today created history yet again by announcing its “New 50 paise STD Local” tariff for the prepaid segment. The first of its kind, this offer will allow Virgin Mobile youth customers to make STD and Local calls @50paise/min without any extra charges (commitments) or a pack. Customers can now call any number (mobile or landline) across networks, across India at only 50 paise per minute after the initial three minutes of the day.

True to its brand philosophy, “Think Hatke”, the company unveiled the new tariff offer in a fun, cheeky and innovative style.  The unveiling act was the bringing down of a vinyl which had a photograph of a male lower torso clad in a pair of jeans and carried a teaser, “We are dropping ours.”  

 

Announcing this market defining move today, Mr. M. A. Madhusudan, CEO, Virgin Mobile India said, “Youth are high users of mobile services. This offer will meet their behavioral needs by providing a value proposition on long distance calling. “New 50 paise STD Local” tariff enjoys special significance given the fact that urban youth have a strong need for STD which comprises around 25% of their outgoing usage (in minutes) but importantly their spends on STD are as high as 50%. Our pocket friendly STD call rate will now help our youth customers make longer and more regular calls to their friends and family across the country.”


He added “Our strategy has been to offer value and flexibility that meets the unique needs of urban youth. We launched in India with the “Get Paid for Incoming” offer and with the launch of “New 50 paise STD Local” tariff, we are delighted to set yet another benchmark in the telecom industry in less than a year. This tariff is the first of its kind offer in the country and is our effort to put end to distances across geographies in India.

Comparing to industry he said “Against the industry norm of providing STD @ Rs. 1/ minute at an additional monthly commitment, “New 50 P STD Local” will provide the lowest all India STD base tariff offer @ 50 paise/minute with no extra cost or purchase of a pack – a value proposition no other mobile service offers in India currently.”    

 

As per Virgin Mobile estimates, commitment to STD packs is not a regular affair for the youth. It is rather need based and hits their pocket. “New 50 paise STD local” is aimed at targeting this latent need of the youth by giving them the benefit of lower STD base rates apart from benefits for Local calling at no extra cost.

 

All new customers can avail the “New 50 paise STD local” with a new Virgin Mobile connection on purchase of a starter kit priced at Rs. 99.  Existing Virgin Mobile subscribers, who wish to migrate to this plan, can also do so.


Since its launch in India, Virgin Mobile has taken a number of initiatives to offer customized and relevant offerings for its youth audience to meet their style, budget and aspirational quotient.
 

-      ‘Get Paid for Incoming’ - an industry defining tariff offer which credits customers with 10 paise per minute of incoming call they receive

-       ‘YoYo Plan’ – Virgin Mobile to Virgin Mobile tariff package that allows customers to call between Virgin Mobile to Virgin Mobile at 10 paise per minute (for 700 local minutes) for a nominal monthly commitment of just Rs 28. This tariff package is available through a vPower recharge voucher and is one of the most attractive pack in the market today. With Virgin Mobile to Virgin Mobile outgoing calls being priced at 10 paise per minute, Virgin Mobile customers can call their peers using Virgin Mobile virtually for free. This is because Virgin Mobile’s ‘Get Paid for Incoming’ proposition allows Virgin Mobile customers to earn 10 paise credit per minute of an incoming call  

-      In addition, Virgin Mobile offers innovative bolt ons (schemes) such as ‘Thank God its Weekend’ that let youth enjoy 100 free local SMSs and all local mobile calls at 30 paise between Friday and Sunday on payment of just Rs. 18. 

 

Virgin Mobile customers can avail a range of six competitively priced handsets priced between Rs. 1499/- and Rs. 3999/-. All these handsets are 100% colour and 100% FM-radio enabled. For example, the vTrendy is a combination of an extremely stylish color screen phone loaded with FM Radio. This is available at an attractive price of Rs. 1,499 and comes bundled with lifetime validity recharge and a starter user kit. vKewl phone on the other hand has features like video recording, 1.3 mega pixel camera, MP 3 player, FM radio, 1 GB micro card and is loaded with music and videos, MMS, speakers and headset. All this is available with lifetime incoming and prepaid connection for just Rs. 3999/-.


For any queries, Virgin Mobile champs can be reached at 600 166 66 from any number (prefixed with the city STD code) or at 125999 from a Virgin Mobile number.

 

 

About Virgin Mobile
TTL’s Virgin Mobile brand is India’s first national youth-focused mobile service. Virgin Mobile branded services are being offered to the Indian consumers by Tata Teleservices through a brand franchise with Virgin. Virgin Mobile India facilitates Tata Teleservices with experience and expertise in designing, marketing and servicing of Virgin Mobile branded products for the youth segment. Virgin Mobile services are being supported from nine centers across nine cities and have a bench strength of more than 350 personnel. While Virgin Mobile branded service can be enjoyed by customers in over 6000 towns and 3,00,000 villages, the focus on subscriber acquisition so far has been in the top 60 cities and is set to extend to more cities by year end. Virgin Mobile branded handsets are available across 20,000 outlets and its top up cards across 50,000 outlets nationally. 


About Virgin – The Group

Virgin, a leading branded venture capital organization, is one of the world's most recognized and respected brands.  Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony to transportation, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays, publishing and retailing. Virgin has created more than 200 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people, in 29 countries. Its revenues around the world in 2007 exceeded £11.5 billion (approx. US$23 billion). 


About Tata Teleservices

TATA Teleservices Ltd is one of India’s leading private telecom service providers. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the TATA Indicom brand, and uses the latest CDMA technology for its wireless network. TATA Teleservices, along with TATA Teleservices (Maharashtra) Ltd, operates in more than 6,000 towns across 19 circles—Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, New Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (East), Uttar Pradesh (West), Kolkata, Rest of West Bengal, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh. TATA Indicom brand has a customer base of over 28 million.