Company Press Release:
“Virgin Mobile” Data Services Now Available for Qualcomm’s BREW Solution
New Delhi, May 30, 2008 — Tata Teleservices today announced that it will offer wireless data services for Qualcomm’s BREW® solution to subscribers of its “Virgin Mobile” brand in India. Qualcomm’s BREW solution will ensure efficient and reliable delivery of Virgin Mobile’s latest content to mid- and high-end devices. By working with Qualcomm to offer BREW services to its subscribers, Virgin Mobile is able to deliver tailored and relevant offerings that cater to the unique needs of the Indian youth market.
Virgin Mobile will leverage the BREW platform to present a full range of innovative and easy-to-use mobile content services, including entertainment (gaming, sports, astrology), music and messaging applications., Additionally, Virgin Mobile will make available innovative offers to its subscribers such as unlimited access to Virgin Mobile’s unique V-Bytes data portal for a simple daily charge of only Rs.5, wherein customers can access free Virgin selected content and other targeted applications.
“Our target audience of tech savvy youth in India desires the latest mobile applications and services so that they can enjoy the power of their devices,” said Jamie Heywood, deputy CEO for Virgin Mobile India. “BREW is allowing us to offer advanced data services to our end users efficiently with an expedited time to market.”
“The BREW solution was a natural fit for Virgin Mobile, as it allows us to coordinate with the global BREW developer community, which includes a number of regional applications, for advanced data services on our current range of six handsets,” said Deval Parikh, chief officer of handsets, VAS & Procurement for Virgin Mobile India. “We have been able to work with the BREW value chain and come up with a compelling user experience that enhances content discovery even on low-end devices.”
“Virgin Mobile’s strategy highlights the recent growth and overall potential of the Indian market for high-end data services and we believe that leveraging BREW is the best possible solution to meet the needs of their data-savvy customers,” said Arvin Chander, vice president of global carrier relations for Qualcomm Internet Services. “Virgin Group as an entity has been known for achieving incredible success with unique business strategies, and Qualcomm looks forward to playing a pivotal role as Virgin Mobile redefines India’s mobile data services landscape.”
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 250 personnel. At launch, although the Virgin Mobile branded service were available nationwide, the focus on subscriber acquisition has been in the top 50 cities and is set to extend to over 1000 cities by year end. Virgin Mobile branded handsets will be available across 15,000 outlets and its top up cards across 40,000 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 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 3G1X technology for its wireless network. Tata Teleservices along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited operates in more than 5000 towns across 19 circles i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, New Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kolkata, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and RoWB.
Qualcomm and BREW are registered trademarks of Qualcomm Incorporated. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.