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Virgin Mobile is a
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
service provider operating in the United Kingdom. It is owned by
Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
which is part of
Virgin Media O2 Virgin Media O2 (legally incorporated as VMED O2 UK Limited) is a British mass media and telecommunications company based in London, England. The company was formed in June 2021 as a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica t ...
. The company was launched by
Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...
in 1999 as the world's first
mobile virtual network operator A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...
(MVNO). As a virtual operator, Virgin Mobile does not maintain its own network but uses the O2 network. NTL:Telewest bought Virgin Mobile on 4 April 2006 and rebranded itself as Virgin Media on 9 February 2007; Virgin Mobile became part of the quadplay of Virgin Media services. Virgin Media was purchased by
Liberty Global Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
in 2013, and merged with O2 in 2021. Virgin Mobile offers contract mobile packages, as well as
mobile broadband Mobile broadband is the marketing term for Wireless broadband, wireless Internet access via mobile networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a Tablet computer, tablet/smartphone (possibly Tetherin ...
services. It sells its services directly, as well as through price comparison sites.


History

Virgin Mobile was launched in November 1999 as a private joint venture between
One2One T-Mobile UK was a mobile network operator in the UK. First launched as Mercury One2One (stylised one2one) on 7 January 1993, the network was originally operated by Mercury Communications. one2one was purchased by Deutsche Telekom in 1999, wh ...
(later T-Mobile UK) and the
Virgin Group Virgin Group Ltd. is a British multinational venture capital conglomerate founded by Richard Branson and Nik Powell in February 1970. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by the Companies House, who class it as a holding c ...
. The joint venture involved leasing network bandwidth from One2One and re-selling it under the Virgin Mobile brand, making it significantly cheaper to run than if Virgin operated its own network infrastructure. The company reported its first annual profit in 2003, following successful Christmas sales. In 2004
Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
sold their 50% holding in Virgin Mobile to the Virgin Group, with the agreement that if the company were to become public in the following two and a half years they would receive 25% of the proceeds. The two companies had previously argued over the terms of the agreement made in 1999 and
Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...
had filed a High Court action against T-Mobile. Branson had considered making Virgin Mobile public in 2002. Eventually, dealing in shares of Virgin Mobile began on 21 July 2004, with 37% of the shares made available for sale as an initial public offering and the rest held by the Virgin Group. At the time, the company had 4.1 million customers and employed 1,400 staff in the UK; the listing valued the company at £500m.


Acquisition by Telewest, 2006

In December 2005 it was announced that Virgin Mobile UK was in talks with NTL:Telewest regarding a sale. The combination of Virgin Mobile and NTL:Telewest would create the United Kingdom's first "quadruple play" media company, bringing together TV,
broadband internet access Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet ...
,
mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
and fixed-line phone services, and allowing NTL:Telewest to use the Virgin brand. Under the deal, Virgin owner
Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...
was understood to be planning to swap his controlling 72% stake in Virgin Mobile for a 14% holding in NTL:Telewest, which would make the billionaire entrepreneur the biggest shareholder in the combined group, and give him a share of future revenues. The first bid of £817 million ($1.4 billion) was rejected by Virgin Mobile's independent directors, who took the view that NTL:Telewest's bid "undervalued the business." Branson was reported to be confident that a restructured deal could be completed. The offer was increased in January 2006, to £961m, or 372p per share. On 4 April 2006, NTL:Telewest announced a £962.4m recommended offer for Virgin Mobile. The offer had three options: 372 pence per share in cash; 0.23245 new NTL:Telewest Inc. shares for each Virgin Mobile share, worth 389p; or 0.18596 of an NTL:Telewest share, and 67p in cash, worth in total 387p. Branson indicated that he would accept the third option, which led to him receiving at least a 10.1% stake in the newly enlarged NTL:Telewest, and helped to fund the increased 372p per share in cash for the minority shareholders. The independent directors of Virgin Mobile indicated to NTL:Telewest that they "intended unanimously to recommend that Virgin Mobile shareholders vote in favour of the scheme". NTL:Telewest acquired Virgin Mobile on 4 July 2006, delisting it from the
London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
and leaving Virgin Group with a 10.5% shareholding. NTL:Telewest rebranded under the
Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
name on 8 February 2007. The company set up in 2004, Virgin Mobile Group (UK) Limited, became dormant and was eventually dissolved in 2020.


Merger with O2

In May 2020, it was announced that the owner of Virgin Mobile,
Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
, was in talks with
Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
, owner of the O2 network, to merge the two companies. Following approval by the
Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
, the merger to form
Virgin Media O2 Virgin Media O2 (legally incorporated as VMED O2 UK Limited) is a British mass media and telecommunications company based in London, England. The company was formed in June 2021 as a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica t ...
was completed on 1 June 2021. Virgin Media said that Virgin Mobile customers would see no immediate changes.


Services

Virgin Mobile sells contract airtime, mobile phones and
mobile broadband Mobile broadband is the marketing term for Wireless broadband, wireless Internet access via mobile networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a Tablet computer, tablet/smartphone (possibly Tetherin ...
, marketed through Virgin Media and its high street stores. Following the 2010 merger of
T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...
and
Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...
to form EE, many Virgin Media customers were able to use phones previously locked to either of these companies, although EE SIMs would not work in phones locked to Virgin. However, the merger meant Virgin Mobile customers reported losing signal as EE consolidated the coverage of the two formerly separate networks. As part of the merger, Virgin Media continued the agreement with EE to use its network, and phones could roam between a formerly T-Mobile UK mast and a former Orange mast from early October 2011. In November 2016, Virgin launched 4G with new tariffs and an unused monthly data rollover feature. Users on 4G plans have free access to
WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows us ...
and
Facebook Messenger Messenger is a proprietary instant messaging app and platform developed by Meta Platforms. Originally developed as Facebook Chat in 2008, the company revamped its messaging service in 2010, released standalone iOS and Android apps in 2011, and ...
apps by "
zero-rating Zero-rating is the practice of providing Internet access without financial cost under certain conditions, such as by permitting access to only certain websites or by subsidizing the service with advertising or by exempting certain websites from ...
" until their data allowance is used in full. Virgin Mobile originally offered
pay-as-you-go Pay as you go or PAYG may refer to: Finance * Pay-as-you-go tax, or pay-as-you-earn tax * Pay-as-you-go pension plan * PAYGO, the practice in the US of financing expenditures with current funds rather than borrowing * PAUG, a structured financia ...
contracts, but in October 2019 these were closed to new customers and tariffs were increased for existing customers. On 6 November 2019, it was announced that Virgin Mobile would end their 20-year contract with BT and EE, and would use
Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
's network from 2021, initially for five years. From January 2021 new customers were connected to the Vodafone network, and it was reported that existing customers would be moved from EE to Vodafone by early 2022. However, following the mid-2021 merger, Virgin Media O2 stated that notice to cancel the MVNO agreement had been given, and that the company intended to bring all consumer mobile services onto the O2 network. In January 2021, Virgin Media launched 5G services using the Vodafone network. Later that year, the company announced that their pay-as-you-go service for existing customers would be discontinued between October 2021 and January 2022.


References


External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in Swansea Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Mobile phone companies of the United Kingdom Mobile virtual network operators Telecommunications companies established in 1999 Virgin Media Virgin Mobile British companies established in 1999