type subsidiary industry mobile phones founded november 1999 ; 16 years ago 1999 11 founder richard branson thomas alexander headquarters swansea wales united kingdom key people tom mockridge managing director products mobile telephony revenue 563 million 2006 net income 66 million 2006 owner liberty global number of employees 1 700 parent virgin media website www.virginmobile.co.uk virgin mobile uk is a mobile phone service provider operating in the united kingdom and a subsidiary of virgin media . the company was launched by virgin group in 1999 as the world s first mobile virtual network operator mvno . as a virtual network operator virgin mobile does not maintain its own network but instead has contracts to use the existing network of ee originally one2one at the time virgin launched . 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 and received a new logo in line with its parent . virgin media was subsequently purchased by liberty global in 2013 . virgin provide pay as you go and contract mobile packages as well as mobile broadband services . it sells its services directly as well as through virgin media s retail stores . contents 1 history 1.1 acquisition 2 services 3 references 4 external links history edit virgin mobile was launched in november 1999 as a private joint venture between one2one later t mobile and the virgin group . 1 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 . 2 the company reported its first annual profit in 2003 following successful christmas sales . 3 in 2004 deutsche telekom 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 . 4 the two companies had previously argued over the terms of the agreement made in 1999 and richard branson had filed a high court action against t mobile . 5 richard branson had considered making virgin mobile public in 2002 . 6 eventually dealing in shares of virgin mobile began on 21 july 2004 7 with 37 % of the companies made available for sale as an initial public offering . the remaining shares were held by the virgin group . 8 at the time the company had 4.1 million customers employed 1 400 staff in the uk and the listing valued the company at 500m . 9 acquisition edit virgin mobile s former headquarters in trowbridge wiltshire 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 mobile phone and fixed line phone services and allowing ntl telewest to use the virgin brand . under the deal virgin owner sir richard branson 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 single shareholder in the combined group and give him a share of future revenues . the original 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 . sir richard 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 incorporated announced a 962.4 m 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 a 0.18596 of an ntl telewest share and 67p in cash worth in total 387p . branson indicated that he would accept the third option . this 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 and leaving virgin group with a 10.5 % shareholding . ntl telewest rebranded under the virgin media name on 8 february 2007 . services edit virgin mobile sells pay as you go and contract airtime as well as mobile phones . the company also provides mobile broadband services with speeds of up to 7.2 mbit s and allowances of 1 and 3gb depending on the chosen package provided through the ee 3g network . the service includes a huawei e160 usb modem dongle painted black with a silver virgin mobile logo . mobile phone and broadband services are also marketed through virgin media and its high street stores . 10 following the 2010 merger of t mobile and orange to form ee many virgin mobile customers are able to use any phones previously locked to either of these companies but as virgin roams on other networks ee sim cards will not work in phones locked to virgin . however the merger meant virgin mobile customers reported losing signals where t mobile uk has begun decommissioning masts where orange already has coverage and began merging their signal with orange 11 as virgin have contracts with t mobile until 2014 . however as part of the merger virgin mobile has a joint agreement with ee to use its masts and will seamlessly change between a t mobile uk mast and an orange mast where there is no signal from t mobile since early october 2011 . a phone roaming on the t mobile masts are marked as virgin whereas phones roaming the orange masts are marked as virgin . 12 references edit virgin mobile reveals share range . bbc news . 7 july 2004 . retrieved 15 february 2010 . mobile users flock to virgin . bbc news . 3 january 2002 . retrieved 15 february 2010 . virgin mobile reports strong sales . bbc news . 23 january 2003 . retrieved 15 february 2010 . virgin mobile on road to market . bbc news . 29 january 2004 . retrieved 15 february 2010 . tug of love over virgin mobile . bbc news . 10 march 2003 . retrieved 22 august 2007 . branson may take virgin mobile public . bbc news . 8 march 2002 . retrieved 15 february 2010 . virgin mobile plans july float . bbc news . 30 june 2004 . retrieved 22 august 2007 . virgin mobile reveals share range . bbc news . 7 july 2004 . retrieved 15 february 2010 . virgin mobile makes steady debut . bbc news . 21 july 2002 . retrieved 22 august 2007 . virgin media mobile pay as you go and pay monthly phones archived february 9 2010 at the wayback machine . virgin media t mobile merger creates virgin mobile blackspots pc pro virgin connects mobile network with orange broadband tv news external links edit official website v t e virgin media a subsidiary of liberty global products and services virgin broadband virgin media business virgin mobile virgin phone virgin tv former subsidiaries and shareholdings bid shopping uktv virgin media television predecessors ntl telewest virgin mobile uk category commons v t e virgin mobile brand licensees virgin mobile australia virgin mobile canada virgin mobile chile virgin mobile france virgin mobile india virgin mobile south africa virgin mobile uk virgin mobile usa links to related articles v t e virgin group assets lifestyle active balloon flights books care casino experience days games gaming health bank pure voucher electric racing wines travel america atlantic vacations virgin australia holdings australia regional virgin samoa tigerair australia cruises galactic holidays travel city direct hotels chicago limited edition natirar necker roof gardens ulusaba limobike oceanic trains west coast east coast music megastores records virgin emi v festival money green fund money uk money australia media connect media ireland mobile uk virgin mobile australia canada chile france india poland south africa usa produced radio uk france canada toronto montreal vancouver calgary edmonton winnipeg london on italy dubai turkey jordan thailand virgin hitz eazy fm lebanon former comics festival north america festival australia heaven ou fm racing f1 radio ottawa uk radio classic groove xtreme v2 records virgin.net defunct brides cars charter cinemas digital digital help drinks cola vodka electronics energy express films interactive limousines little red megastores uk media television money us nigeria northern rock radio free sun trains crosscountry trains expresscoach vie virginware people richard branson nik powell other losing my virginity timeline of richard branson s business ventures unite charity virgin earth challenge ds virgin racing category commons v t e telecommunications industry in the united kingdom economy of the united kingdom science and technology in the united kingdom companies infrastructure providers arqiva babcock international bt wholesale openreach interxion telecitygroup telehouse europe service providers current andrews & arnold asda mobile bt group bt global services bt business bt consumer ee plusnet claranet colt group the co operative cable & wireless communications delight mobile family mobile inmarsat kcom group eclipse internet lebara mobile lycamobile mapesbury communications o2 uk giffgaff origin broadband sky sky broadband talkmobile talktalk group aol broadband talktalk business talktalk mobile talktalk tv telecom plus tesco mobile three tru virgin media virgin media business virgin mobile uk vodafone vodafone uk voipfone wightfibre zen internet defunct atlantic telegraph company be un limited bonelli s electric telegraph company cable & wireless plc cable & wireless worldwide dolphin telecom electric telegraph company energis general post office ionica london and provincial district telegraph company mercury communications mobile by sainsbury s national telephone company ntl ovivo post office telecommunications pipex priyo mobile rabbit stan mobile tiscali uk universal private telegraph company suppliers current arm holdings artevea csr icera metaswitch pace sarantel spirent telent defunct gec plessey telecommunications marconi company marconi communications picochip standard telephones and cables other carphone warehouse hibu phones 4u dial a phone government and regulatory bodies broadband stakeholder group defence science and technology laboratory european conference of postal and telecommunications administrations international telecommunication union ofcom phonepayplus industry bodies gsm association internet service providers association lonap london internet exchange manap symbian foundation internet telephony services providers association other adastral park british approvals board for telecommunications british telecommunications act 1981 british telephone sockets bt research bt site engineering code communications act 2003 earth stations in the united kingdom hull colour pages interception of communications act 1985 internet in the united kingdom telegraph act telegraph act 1868 telegraph act 1885 telephone numbers in the united kingdom uk telephone code misconceptions web blocking in the united kingdom category commons v t e uk mobile network operators ee o2 three vodafone uk mobile virtual network operators mvnos asda mobile bt mobile bt business mobile the co operative mobile delight mobile giffgaff gt mobile id mobile lebara mobile lycamobile now mobile talkmobile telecom plus tesco mobile the people s operator truphone virgin mobile former mvnos dialog vizz family mobile kitemobile mobile by sainsbury s life mobile retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title virgin mobile uk & oldid 737205088 categories companies based in 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