News 2002
Virgin Mobile welcomes moves by Vodafone and BT Cellnet on mobile phone crime
08/02/2002
Virgin Mobile's Sir Richard Branson, welcoming news that Vodafone has bowed to public, industry and government pressure to introduce measures to help combat mobile phone crime, said:
"We are genuinely pleased that Vodafone and BT Cellnet have listened to the proposals that we and others in the industry have been lobbying for. We have consistently argued that introducing a system of phone-barring across all networks is one of the best ways to help cut crime. We are delighted that Vodafone and BT Cellnet have heeded this advice and will be bringing their network security up to the standards of those at Virgin Mobile, Orange and One2One."
"We will continue to lobby the government, through the Mobile Industry Crime Action Forum (MICAF), to introduce legislation to help make it a criminal offence for the public to tamper with a mobile phone's serial code - the IMEI number."
"With all networks able to bar any stolen phone, the incentive to steal a mobile to use, or to sell on, will have been lost and crime should be much reduced."
Contacts:
Virgin Mobile press office: 0845 600 6272 or pressoffice@virginmobile.com
Steven Day - 07931 777 777
Alison Bonny - 07802 430 276
Debra Burtt - 07941 200300
Sasha Bradbury - 0207 208 2708
About Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile is now established as the most successful virtual network operator in the world, and is the UK's fifth network. Since its launch in November 1999 it has attracted 1.5 million customers, making it one of the fastest growing mobile phone companies in history.
Virgin Mobile is a 50:50 joint venture company between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Deutsche Telekom's One 2 One, and is the UK's first mobile virtual operator.
It has scored a number of firsts, including being the first operator to scrap peak rate calls, introduce a daily discounting tariff, the first company in the world to introduce an integrated MP3 mobile phone and the first company to offer all of its customers a content-rich voice portal with the launch of its 4321 service.
