Company Press Release:

 

Now COMMUNICATE WITHOUT speaking; with the new thumb rule

Virgin Mobile ushers in yet another milestone in Indian Telecom, introduces

revolutionary SMS proposition – FREE National or Local SMSs

 

New Delhi, January 22nd, 2009: In its continued endeavor to offer products and services that meet the needs of the urban youth in India, Virgin Mobile, India’s first national youth-focused mobile services brand, today introduced yet another revolutionary youth focused proposition by making SMS the new voice of the youth by ushering in genuine freedom of sending SMSs by making it FREE without any extra pack or upfront commitment. Virgin Mobile customers will now be able to send 100 National as well as 100 Local; a total of 200 SMSs free daily after just paying for the first 3 SMSs on each leg (National and Local respectively) to any network.   Talking about the launch of the new SMS offer, M. A. Madhusudan, Chief Executive Officer, Virgin Mobile, India said, “Our research shows that youth have a high propensity to consume mobile services and are looking for solutions that give them the flexibility to use mobile services as per their need.

Youth around the country send 6 times as many SMSs and have a constant desire to connect & share with their large network of friends, peer group and family. They use SMS as an important device to lead a life of their choice; zoning people in and out from their world as and when they want to and also use it as their Secret Messaging Service (SMS). But, due to voice text pricing parity, sending SMSs are expensive and better deals are usually available only with packs or upfront commitment. However, now with our new free SMS proposition we believe that youth will take up to this medium in a big way and it will become the new voice of the youth.

 

HIGHLIGHTS: ·       Offers revolutionary free SMS proposition without any pack o   Customers just need to pay for first 3 SMSs daily and thereafter 100 SMSs are free §  First 3 Local SMSs charged at Re. 1/- each §  First 3 National SMSs charged at Rs. 1.50/- each o   Post which 200 SMSs are free; 100 Local and 100 National SMSs free daily o   SMSs can be sent to any number across all networks in the country

The new free SMS offer is available to all Virgin Mobile subscribers across the country without any extra monthly commitment/upfront payment or pack. The first 3 Local SMSs sent are charged at Re. 1/- each which is the base tariff, post which 100 SMSs are free daily. The first 3 National SMSs are charged at Rs. 1.50 each, post which 100 National SMSs are free daily. In essence the consumer gets a total of 200 SMSs free daily. All new subscribers and the existing subscriber who are already on the New 50 Paise STD Local tariff will get this SMS benefit by default from today onwards, while the customers who are on the Old 50 Paise Local tariff can avail this benefit by recharging their account by a mere Rs. 12/- recharge coupon which is available across 50,000 outlets in the country.

 

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 for every minute of incoming call they receive

*Not applicable for calls received from Tata numbers

-      ‘New 50 paise STD local’ - The first of its kind, this offer made geography history and made making STD calls as easy as Local. Virgin Mobile customers can make STD and Local calls @50paise/min without any extra charges or a pack.STD: After the first 3 Minutes of each day at Rs.1.5/- per minute, customers can enjoy outgoing calls through the day at just 50 Paise per minute for up to 30 Minutes daily. Beyond this, the initial rate is applicable. LOCAL - After the first 3 Minutes of the day at Re.1/- per minute, customers can enjoy outgoing calls for rest of the day at just 50 Paise per minute

 

In addition, Virgin Mobile offers innovative bolt on (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.  

 

To appeal to the youth segment, Virgin Mobile handsets have been designed to present a blend of competitive pricing, style and features. Besides, the bundled offers on handsets such as vKewl and vTrendy, Virgin Mobile have recently introduced vDesire and vRage into the market.

 

vDesire is a slim, measuring just 11.5 mm, stylish, chrome finished mobile device and is endowed with 1000 SMS storage capability and supports a large internal phonebook with 500 X 5 entries. The phone comes with an attractive 65K color screen, FM Radio, Stereo headset, Speaker phone, Prepaid connection and Lifetime Validity at a price point of just Rs.1,699/-. vRage is available in the market at a bundle price of Rs. 1899 including Rs.99 SUK + Life time Validity (worth Rs.295). This is a color phone with FM, in fact all Virgin Mobile phones are color and FM enabled.

 

vKewl has features like video recording, 1.3 mega pixel camera, MP 3 player, FM radio and is loaded with MMS, speakers and headset. All this is available with lifetime incoming and prepaid connection for just Rs. 3,499/-. 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.
 

Virgin Mobile handsets are currently available across 33,000 outlets nationally and over 1200 organized retail outlets including The Mobile Store, Hot Spot, Go Mobile, Univercell, Croma, Convergem, Big C, Vishal Mega Mart, Vijay Sales, Sangeetha, Mobile NXT, Planet M and Virgin Mobile kiosks to name a few.

 

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.

                                                                                     TARIFF FACT SHEET

                                                                                      *subject to a maximum of 30mins per day

 

 

	vPower (STD)	vPower (SMS)	Fully Loaded Full TopUp	Thank God Its Weekend
MRP	Rs31	Rs39	Rs 333	Rs18
Benefit	STD @Rs1/min	500 local SMS free	Rs 296 TT, 500 Local SMS Free & Local V2V calls @ 10 paisa/min up to 700 minutes	Local Mobile at 30 paise & 100 Local SMS free
Validity	30 Days	30 Days	SMS & V2V tariffs valid for 30 days	3 Days

 

 

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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 450 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 across top 150 cities and is set to extend to more cities by year end. Virgin Mobile branded handsets are available across 33,000 outlets and its top up cards across 50,000 outlets nationally. In the recently released SAARC Countries Mobile User Survey 2008, Virgin Mobile India has been ranked as No. 1 in Customer Satisfaction. On the overall satisfaction parameters Virgin Mobile scored over 95%.

 

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