News 2000
Virgin Mobile - Your ticket to the USA -
and to the rest of the World for that matter!
08/06/2000
Virgin Mobile is proud to introduce its worldly-wise Motorola Timeport mobile phone to VIP travellers on Virgin Atlantic's inaugral flight to Las Vegas. For globetrotters it's as indispensable as a toothbrush; as much of a must-have as a passport!
Its state-of-the-art tri-band capability means it works right around the world - even in the USA and Canada - keeping you in touch with the office (boo!) and home (hooray!) wherever you are.
It is expected that Virgin Mobile will introduce services in the first quarter of 2001. The initial target markets are Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea. These are three of the most developed economies in Asia where demand for cellular services remains high. The combined population of these three markets exceeds 55 million and the average cellular penetration of less than 50 per cent still lags behind the 70-odd per cent found in Scandinavian countries like Finland and Norway.
And with Virgin Mobile's unique Xtras services, you can even save money on holidays too.
Just click 'Travel' under the 'Virgin Xtras' menu on your mobile, and can book flights on Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Express and tickets on Virgin Trains. Best of all you can get a 10 % discount on most Virgin Holidays and Virgin Sun vacations.*
For example, book a week's wild livin' at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas via your Virgin Mobile and you'll pay from £512 per person, saving £57 off the published price. In high season, for a couple the saving is worth £169, enough to cover a typical mobile call bill for 6 months!
Here's a selection of other savings Virgin Mobile offers its customers (and every phone in our range comes with Xtras, not just the Timeport):
A family, two adults and two children, staying at the Wynfield Inn, Orlando would save £247 off their summer fortnight, paying £2,229, against a brochure price of £2,466.
A couple staying at the 4-star all-inclusive Escape Hotel in Barbados for week in low season would save £181. In peak season, the saving climbs to £269.
And short-haul travellers with Virgin Sun would save £45 per person when booking a week's half-board low-season break at the Club Camp de Mar, Majorca, for example.
The 10% discount can also apply on top of some already-discounted deals too.
Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Mobile, comments: "Virgin Mobile puts the Virgin world in the palm of your hand; and travel around the globe in more affordable reach. The Motorola Timeport is as essential as suncream for frequent travellers, keeping them in touch wherever they are, whenever they are. And with Virgin Xtras, all Virgin Mobile customers can enjoy great savings on holidays - all through the touch of a button."
The Virgin Mobile Motorola Timeport L7089 retails at £219.99. Other features of the phone include Voice Activated dialling and Voicenote Voice Recorder.
Once you are connected with Virgin Mobile, you pay only for the calls you make. There is no line rental, no monthly fees, no ongoing charges, no vouchers that vanish and no high call charges. There are also no peak rates. Standard UK calls cost just 15p a minute for the first five minutes each day, and 5p a minute after that - for up to 23 hours, 55 minutes each day. And voicemail retrieval is free!
International calls are cheap too: from the UK calls to the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand cost just 20p a minute at any time of day - less than BT's cheapest rate. UK to Europe is 40p a minute; the rest of the world 80p a minute.
For further information please contact:
Steven Day: +44 (0) 7931 777 777
Alison Bonny: +44 (0) 802 430 276
Will Holt: +44 (0) 7941 200 200
Notes to editors:
Virgin Mobile's phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virgin.com/mobile; or on the High Street at more than 300 Virgin Megastores and Our Price shops.
Virgin Mobile's Xtras also gives consumers 15% savings on the price of music CDs, videos and DVDs, computer and console games.
*Excludes some special offers.
