The Prepaid Press - July 15, 2008 - (Page 16) PREPAID WIRELESS July 15 · 2008 - 16 Virgin Mobile to Offer Unlimited Calling for $79.99 No Contract Service Available July 1 WARREN, NJ (June 24, 2008) Virgin Mobile USA has unveiled a new “Totally Unlimited” calling plan for $79.99. The company said this is the lowest priced unlimited nationwide calling plan available. The service has no roaming charges or annual contracts. It can be purchased by cash or credit. “’Totally Unlimited’ for 79.99 per month is a better value than postpaid plans offer,” said Bob Stohrer, Chief Marketing Officer of Virgin Mobile USA. “It is simply not necessary to sign a two-year contract to get real worth with your wireless plan. This offer surpasses the regional carriers’ unlimited calling plans as well, as most add on roaming charges that can cost customers as much as 79 cents per minute. With ‘Totally Unlimited,’ Virgin Mobile USA is providing consumers unlimited talk without all the limitations.” Virgin said that consumers who opt for Virgin Mobile USA’s new “Totally Unlimited” calling plan will be able to talk as much as they want each month across days, nights, weekdays and weekends. The Totally Unlimited plan can be paid with cash using Top-Up cards, or with credit/debit for maximum convenience. For just $10.00 more per month, consumers can add unlimited text and messaging, with texting, IM, email and picture messages. Initial information on “Totally Unlimited” is available on the company’s website. Source: Virgin Mobile USA (www.virginmobileusa.com) Virgin Mobile To Buy Helio for $39M the future using these Helio relationships. Part of the deal will be equal investments of $25 million each by Virgin Group and SK Telecom of equity capital in the form of mandatory convertible preferred stock, convertible to Class A common stock at $8.50 per share. The preferred shares will require shareholder approval and carry a four year maturity and a 6% annual dividend. Upon approval of Virgin Mobile USA’s shareholders, the preferred stock will convert into Class A common shares when the shares reach the conversion price or upon maturity. Virgin Group and SK Telecom are betting that Virgin Mobile USA’s share price will grow from $2.77 to $8.50 within the next 4 years. Admoda Chooses Bango for Mobile Ad Metrics Campaigns to Be Tracked for Results NEW YORK, NY (June 10, 2008) Mobile ad network Admoda, announced that it will use Bango to provide key metrics to advertiser to measure the success of their mobile advertising campaigns. Bango Analytics allows Admoda advertisers to accurately identify, track and build a profile of each unique visitor, rather than simply measure the number of visits. Bango, which serves 1 billion ads per month globally, uses unique user IDs to create a picture of real visitors from anywhere in world, tracking repeat visits and enabling mobile advertisers to create a clear picture of buying patterns and trends. “The ability to measure mobile advertising response rates and pinpoint where to effectively invest advertising spend is essential for our advertisers,” said Terry Jackson, CEO, Admoda. “Quality analytics allows advertisers to fine tune their sites and optimise their ad campaigns with a view to maximising ROI. Bango Analytics will provide our clients with a comprehensive picture.” Admoda focuses on delivering targeted ad campaigns for mobile-ready brands such as 4info, Minick, Movilisto, Shozu, Mobilestreams, Buongiorno, and Gameloft and has a separate solution, Adultmoda, suitable for adult and gambling companies. Advertisers can run targeted mobile web ad campaigns, on a CPM or CPC basis, using banners or text ads. Publishers can also monetize their mobile traffic by running text ads and banner ads on their pages to maximize the revenue generated. “Mobile advertising is an important element in driving traffic to mobile sites and creating brand awareness. Companies like Admoda provide a key service to drive mobile web activity and Bango Analytics adds greater insight and clarity to make measuring results simple,” said Ray Anderson, CEO of Bango. Bango Analytics operates as a hosted service, allowing mobile website owners anywhere in the world to connect their sites to the Analytics service in minutes and start to use it free of charge. Source: Bango (www.bango.com) from page 1 Prepaid Wireless in Brief This year’s Virgin Mobile Festival will take place August 9 and 10 in Baltimore, and will feature more than 40 acts, including Foo Fighters, Jack Johnson, Kanye West, Nine Inch Nails, Stone Temple Pilots and Bob Dylan. For the second year in a row, Virgin Mobile USA is letting fans get in on the act of talent selection for this top-flight event. Along with Kyocera Wireless and MySpace, Virgin Mobile USA is once again launching “Book the Band By Virgin Mobile” -- an opportunity for five emerging bands with different sounds to vie for a slot in the Virgin Mobile Festival lineup. Band content from each of the five contenders selected by Virgin Mobile USA and festival producer I.M.P. debuts today on the Festival website, www.virginmobilefestival.com, as well as www. myspace.com/virginmobilefestival. Tickets for The Virgin Mobile Festival are available through Ticketmaster at www.tickemaster.com or 1-800551-SEAT. Virgin Mobile USA - www.virginmobileusa.com Kyocera Wireless - www.kyocera-wireless.com of this deal will drive increased Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow.” The Wall Street Journal reported that 200 jobs will be eliminated as a cost cutting measure before the deal closes. It also said that Helio’s brand name will be dropped, except in some selected markets where the brand name is strong, like among Korean-Americans. Virgin said it expects to add data applications that Helio has developed which will enhance its products and service offerings. It also said it expects to realize reductions in Virgin Mobile USA’s network rates and an improved capital structure. The transaction is expected to be accretive to adjusted EBITDA in 2008, excluding non-recurring transition costs, and to be accretive to adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow in 2009. With the acquisition of Helio, Virgin Mobile USA inherits approximately 170,000 existing subscribers with an ARPU of approximately $80 and a handset inventory of approximately 85,000 units with a book value of approximately $17 million, along with a postpaid billing and customer care platform. Virgin said by acquiring Helio’s customers, it expects to increase Virgin Mobile USA’s volume of minutes and drive down the Company’s cost per minute under an amendment to its PCS Services agreement with Sprint (NYSE: S). Schulman added, “This strategic acquisition Latest Move Shows MVNO Uncertainty Virgin Mobile is a public company located and controlled by Virgin Group Ltd. of the United Kingdom and Sprint Nextel Corp. of Reston, Va. Virgin Mobile USA was split off from Virgin Mobile last year in a highly visible IPO, the first for a major MVNO. Helio is owned by SK Telecom Ltd. of South Korea and EarthLink Inc., head- Virgin expects to drive incremental growth in data revenues in the future using these Helio relationships. quartered in Atlanta. Last year, SK Telecom tried unsuccessfully to invest in Sprint, and will invest $25 million in Virgin Mobile, and get a 17% share of the merged company. Virgin Group will match SK’s investment. The move seems somewhat unusual because Virgin is a prepaid MVNO, where Helio is a postpaid MVNO, and may say more about prepaid becoming more mainstream than the status of MVNOs. There are many examples of MVNO failures – Disney Mobile, Mobile ESPN, Amp’d, Movida. Virgin Mobile and Helio have both struggled lately, also. Virgin Mobile announced last month that its first quarter profit dropped 75%. Helio has been closing retail stores. Virgin Mobile has 5.1 million prepaid, non-contractual subscribers, while Helio has 170,000 contractual postpaid subscribers. email cellular25@earthlink.net. Coracle Group – www.@coraclegroup.com SouthernLINC Wireless, a Southern Company, has announced the availability of the Prepaid Plus calling plan. Prepaid Plus is a new regional prepaid cellular plan that provides unlimited Push to Talk two-way radio, unlimited night and weekend cellular calling, 10 cents per minute daytime cellular calling and unlimited text messaging throughout the SouthernLINC Wireless Regional Calling Area. Daily access to cellular and Push to Talk services is just $1.50 and is charged only on the days the service is used. Access to unlimited text messaging is 50 cents per day and is charged only on the days that a text message is sent or received. SouthernLINC – www.southernlinc.com The move seems somewhat unusual because Virgin is a prepaid MVNO, where Helio is a postpaid MVNO, and may say more about prepaid becoming more mainstream than the status of MVNOs. integrates Virgin Mobile USA’s brand recognition, scale and extensive distribution with Helio’s accomplishments in advanced handset and content offerings. With about 20% of our disconnects currently going to postpaid products, we believe this new platform will be a powerful retention tool as we offer a unique and desirable postpaid alternative to our customers.” The Helio data services Virgin hopes to leverage are those created in partnership with You Tube, Google and MySpace. Virgin expects to drive incremental growth in data revenues in A group of wireless telecommunications leaders committed to preserving the history of the industry for future generations announced plans for a dinner celebrating the 25th anniversary of the launch of cellular communications. The event, Cellular 25, is scheduled for Oct. 13 in Chicago. The Cellular 25 celebration marks the kickoff for the Wireless History Initiative (WHI), a broadbased, non-profit industry foundation forming to preserve and promote the history of wireless telecommunications through professional networking and educational outreach to the general public. WHI also plans to document the pagi http://www.virginmobileusa.com http://www.bango.com http://www.@coraclegroup.com http://www.virginmobilefestival.com http://www.myspace.com/virginmobilefestival http://www.myspace.com/virginmobilefestival http://www.southernlinc.com http://www.tickemaster.com http://www.virginmobileusa.com http://www.kyocera-wireless.com http://www.ap.org
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