Virgin Mobile heads for France

You lucky people

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Mobile, 3rd April 2006 11:58 GMT

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Virgin Mobile is taking its youthful brand of mobile telephony to France. But as with all things in the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) world, it's not that simple.

The service is being provided in tandem with The Carphone Warehouse, piggybacking on Orange's mobile network while using the Virgin brand. Details of the tie-up were revealed last autumn.

Carphone and Virgin will each own and fund 48.5 per cent of the joint venture, with management owning and funding the remaining 3 per cent.

Execs behind the mobile service are targeting one million customers over the next three years.

Separately, easyMobile, the no frills mobile outfit from easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, has cut the cost of some of its calls in the UK. PAYG punters calling from the easyMobile network to another user on the easyMobile network will pay 3p a minute for voice calls and 1p per text message.

"This is by far the best value of any pay-as-you-go service in the UK," the firm said in a statement. ®

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