Virgin Mobile to Launch Postpaid Wireless Services in Canada

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Virgin Mobile to Launch Postpaid Wireless Services in Canada

6:00 am on November 15, 2007 | Category: Business, Telecom Services, Wireless

Canada’s leading Mobile Virtual Network Operator, Virgin Mobile Canada, announced earlier this week that it hopes to gain a bigger share of the cell phone market by expanding beyond its traditional prepaid wireless niche, and into postpaid contract services.

“We didn’t want to be all things to everyone from the world ‘go,’” explained Sir Richard Branson, the British billionaire who founded Virgin Mobile’s parent company, the Virgin Group. “We’ve proven conclusively that we could come up with the right offerings and expand into a bigger piece of the pie.”

Since it entered the Canadian market three years ago, Virgin Mobile has achieved a customer base of around 500,000 users, making it the #1 player in the country’s small but lucrative prepaid wireless market.

“The problem with pre-paid is that we built a great brand, but it’s only 22% of the market,” Branson said. “By going postpaid, we’ve got the whole Canadian audience … and we’ve got to be ahead of the game.”

Some analysts have expressed doubt over Virgin’s postpaid plans, however, noting that the company’s youth-friendly image is more compatible with prepaid services.

“It’s pretty hard for kids to pass credit checks,” said SeaBoard Group telecommunications analyst, Amit Kaminer.

Kaminer also said that Virgin Mobile’s status as an MVNO, and its reliance on Bell Mobility’s network facilities, could influence the cost of its services, and make it difficult to compete directly with Canada’s three leading carriers – Bell, Telus, and Rogers – all of which own and operate their own networks across the country.

Virgin Mobile Canada’s CEO, Andrew Black, declined to offer details about the company’s forthcoming postpaid services for “competitive reasons,” but said that the “simpler, more transparent” service would be unveiled early next year.

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If I bring Windows Mobile (Pocket PC) from India, will I able to work it in Canada inserting the Sim Card I get from your company when I buy it? Will I need to get the software upgraded or anything modified?

Comment by Kanav Singh — December 8, 2007 #
I guess cellclients.com came around at the right time. They help Canadians get out of their cell phone contract with no cancellation fees by tranferring the contract ownership to others. What this means is that it doesn’t cost a postpaid cellular subsrber a lot of money to leave the current provider and join VirginMobile.

Comment by Nilpash — December 12, 2007 #
www.CellPlanDepot.com is a meeting place for people looking to get out of their cell phone contract “Plan Droppers” and those looking to takeover a contract “Plan Seekers”. This service adds value to cell phone subscribers as it satisfies their need to break a contract and avoid the steep early termination fee. Those who takeover a plan will receive numerous incentives such as cash, free cell phones, accessories, and avoid activations fees through the simple transfer process. Those getting out of their plan avoid the early termination fees and all of the future monthly payments for that contract. It is a win-win process as both Plan Seekers and Plan Droppers save money through this innovative service.

We hope you have found this information useful.

Comment by kristy6714 — March 30, 2008 #