Company Press Release:
‘MySpace’ now available on Virgin Mobile in India
World’s largest social network now accessible at no extra cost on Virgin
Mobile handsets priced as low as Rs. 2999
New Delhi, 06 January, 2009 - In step with its efforts to bolster its youth-centric services portfolio in India, Virgin Mobile today announced a partnership with MySpace for making the latter’s social networking services available on Virgin Mobile WAP-enabled phones. An unprecedented move, this announcement will enthuse Virgin Mobile’s youth customers by providing them instant access to world’s largest social networking site at no extra cost*on handsets starting at just Rs. 2,999 . With this service, Virgin Mobile has further spiced up its vBytes data portal. Users can access MySpace by simply clicking the MySpace link on vBytes and logging in the user ID and password. New users can begin by creating a fresh id and password.
(* Users pay a daily charge of just Rs. 5/- for accessing vBytes)
With access to the online community, Virgin Mobile users can now actively
meet their friends & add their friends'
friends on the fly, as well as share photos, journals and interests with
their growing network of mutual friends. Among other activities, Virgin
Mobile users can send and receive messages, read and post blogs online,
browse photos & albums, update their mood status in real time with just one
click, meet singles, match make amongst friends, keep in touch with family
members through Family Tree, network with business contacts and lastly,
locate their lost classmates and friends!
Commenting on the partnership, Deval Parikh, Chief Officer, Handsets and VAS, Virgin Mobile India said, "With more and more online youth community logging onto social networking sites, we wanted to make this service available to our customers on a broad set of handsets. We are thrilled to be the first to have partnered with MySpace in the Indian mobile service space to make this service accessible to Virgin Mobile customers on handsets as low as Rs. 2999. MySpace is the most popular social network with existing worldwide user base of 210 mn and an Indian user base of 1.2 mn which is growing at a tremendous pace. We are sure our youth users will be delighted with it’s accessibility at the press of a button, anytime, anywhere at no extra cost.”
“MySpace and Virgin Mobile users in India will love having the freedom and convenience of accessing their social network while they’re on the go,” said John Faith, Vice President and General Manager of Mobile for MySpace. “With India being the fastest growing wireless/mobile market, it is a priority for us to provide our users in India access to their MySpace network in ways that fit their lifestyle. Virgin Mobile is an ideal partner that will help us deliver on that strategy in India.
vKewl
and vSleek are two WAP enabled handsets from Virgin Mobile’s product
portfolio. vKewl is the only handset in the Indian market in the price range
of Rs. 3499 that can boast of providing the most desired features like video
recording capability, 1.3 mega pixel camera and comes with lifetime incoming
validity and a prepaid connection. Besides this, the phone comes with MP3
player, FM Radio, MMS, Speakers and Headsets. On the other hand, vSleek is
an ultra slim phone priced at an attractive price point of Rs. 2999 bundled
with lifetime validity.
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 MySpace
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. MySpace has created a connected global community by integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and member forums. MySpace's international network includes more than 30 localized community sites in the United States, Brazil, Canada, Latin America, Mexico, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, India, Japan, and New Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS - News, NWS.A - News; ASX:NWS - News, NWSLV - News).
(1)
Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, September 2008. For more
information on comScore Networks, please go to
www.comscore.com.
About Virgin
Mobile
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 bench
strength of more than 350 personnel. While Virgin Mobile branded service can
be enjoyed by customers in over 7,400 cities across India, the focus on
subscriber acquisition so far has been in the top 100 cities and is set to
extend to more cities by year end. Virgin Mobile branded handsets are
available across 25,000 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 Limited is one of India's leading private telecom service providers having pan India presence. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom brand, and uses the latest CDMA technology platform(s) for its wireless network. Tata Teleservices Limited along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited operates in more than 7,400 towns across 22 circles i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kolkata, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, RoWB, Assam, North Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir. Tata Indicom has a customer base of over 30 million. For more information, log on to www.tataindicom.com