New mobile broadband packages from Virgin
From Monday 3 November, Virgin Media launches some new mobile broadband packages.
From as little as £5 per month, new and existing Virgin Media broadband customers on cable or ADSL services can stay connected to the internet on the go by simply plugging Virgin Media's new 1GB USB modem into a laptop.
These bundled packages from Virgin Media include:
- Monthly cost is £5 per month for customers on Virgin Media's XL (20Mb) or L (10Mb) cable broadband packages, or Virgin Media's ADSL 'Bundle 1' (Up to 8Mb Unlimited Broadband and Talk Anytime)
- Monthly cost is £10 per month for customers on Virgin Media's M (2Mb) cable broadband package or Virgin Media's ADSL 'Bundle 2' (Up to 8Mb Unlimited Broadband and Talk Evenings and Weekends) or the basic ADSL up to 8Mb Unlimited Broadband service
- The Virgin Media 1GB USB modem has a one-off cost of £25
- Included data allowance per month is 1GB
- Monthly usage over the 1GB allowance is charged at 1.46 pence per MB
Graeme Oxby, Virgin Media's Managing Director for Mobile said: "Our 1GB mobile broadband is great for people who need home broadband but also want access to the internet on the move. The bundle is exceptional value and offers complete peace of mind, not only because it comes from genuine broadband experts but also because it offers the safety net of considerably cheaper rates if customers go over the monthly data allowance."
See the deals
here.
Labels: mobile broadband, offers, Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile launches mobile broadband
The long-awaited entry of Virgin Mobile into the mobile broadband market has finally arrived.
According to
Virgin, their new service offers speeds of up to 3.6Mbps (depending signal strength), is available on an 18-month contract and comes with 3GB of data every month. The ISP claims this is sufficient to send 2,000 plain text emails as well as surf the web for 100 hours and make 100 two-minute downloads every month.
Priced at £15 per month, subscribers will receive a free USB modem that can be plugged into a laptop and uses the mobile phone network to provide access to the web. Each further GB of data transfer costs £15.
"The launch of our
mobile broadband product means UK consumers can now get all of their broadband needs from the UK's leading broadband expert", said Neil Berkett, Virgin Media CEO.
The ISP is also offering the first three months free, to any XL home customers that sign up to the Mobile Broadband service.
Labels: information, mobile broadband, Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile to launch mobile broadband in Q4
Managing director of Virgin Mobile, Graeme Oxby, told
Mobile News a renewed agreement with Virgin Mobile's MVNO host network,
T-Mobile, will allow it to produce its own mobile broadband proposition.
Oxby said the MVNO, which in July reached half a million contract customers, would push the new offering as part of a "complete suite" of services, alongside Virgin Media's existing fixed-line offerings.
He said: "It's been quite difficult to do much about
mobile broadband; the new agreement changes that. It's a large part of our strategy for next year; joining mobile broadband to fixed broadband to complete our suite of services. There will be quite a lot of development now the fundamentals are in place.
"We said we would do something around this in Q4, but we have no specific details yet. It's exciting because it glues together all our offerings quite nicely."
Labels: information, mobile broadband, Virgin Mobile
What is a MVNO?
A Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) is a mobile operator that does not own its own spectrum and usually does not have its own network infrastructure. Instead, MVNO's have business arrangements with traditional mobile operators to buy minutes of use (MOU) for sale to their own customers.
There are three primary MVNO's in the UK currently: Virgin Mobile (
T-Mobile), Tesco Mobile (
O2) and BT Mobile (
Vodafone).
The MVNO market-leader
T-Mobile's new MVNO partnership with Ikea went live today. You can expect to see many more such partnerships announced over the coming months. All UK network operators are pursuing new MVNO business in order to grow their service revenues.
The UK wholesale market is estimated to be worth £1 billion at present, and to grow to twice that by 2012.
Labels: BT Mobile, industry insight, o2, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile, Vodafone
Virgin Mobile to launch mobile broadband
In its latest set of quarterly results,
Virgin Mobile has revealed it will be unveiling its own mobile broadband offering in the fourth quarter of this year.
The move comes about due to a recent renegotiation of the virtual mobile operator's agreement with its network supplier,
T-Mobile, for the cost of voice and data services. As a result, the operator says it now "will also be able to price more competitively in the growing mobile data usage market".
If Virgin's mobile broadband product resembles
T-Mobile's own offering, customers can expect a theoretical maximum of 7.2Mbps within the M25 area. T-Mobile also launched its HSUPA network in July, promising effective upload speeds of 1.4Mbps.
Virgin becomes the last major operator to launch a mobile broadband service, following rival O2 which made a 3G data product available to existing customers in April this year. BT Mobile, a relatively small player, may release details of their mobile broadband plans later in the summer.
Labels: BT Mobile, mobile broadband, T-Mobile, Virgin Mobile
