for the actress see paydin lopachin . virgin mobile usa type subsidiary industry wireless communications entertainment fate merged november 24 2009 2009 11 24 1 75 founded october 18 2001 ; 14 years ago 2001 10 18 san francisco california united states founder richard branson dan schulman headquarters kansas city ks united states number of locations 40 000 handset retail partners 150 000 top up card retailers area served contiguous united states hawaii puerto rico key people jeff auman vice president virgin mobile usa business line mark lederma business line director products wireless phones mobile broadband devices services beyond talk unlimited data & messaging plans paylo talk & text plans broadband2go plans number of employees 500 2009 citation needed parent sprint corporation 1 329 subsidiaries assurance wireless of south carolina llc helio defunct virgin mobile usa l.p. 1 329 website virginmobileusa.com assurancewireless.com footnotes references 1 virgin mobile usa is a prepaid wireless voice messaging and mobile broadband service provider in the contiguous united states hawaii and puerto rico under the virgin mobile sub brands paylo and assurance wireless . virgin mobile usa is a wholly owned subsidiary of sprint corporation . founded in 2001 as a joint venture between virgin group and original sprint corporation virgin mobile usa commenced operations in june 2002 as a mobile virtual network operator mvno providing services via the sprint 1900 mhz cdma network . in 2008 virgin mobile usa acquired post paid services provider helio inc. then in 2009 sprint nextel bought out joint venture partner virgin group becoming the sole owner of virgin mobile usa . on may 31 2012 virgin mobile usa began offering products and services compatible with the sprint s 2500 mhz 4g wimax network and on february 25 2013 virgin mobile usa began offering its first 4g lte device the samsung galaxy victory 4g lte made available for 299.99 without contract . virgin mobile branded handsets and broadband access devices are available online and at more than 40 000 retail partner locations including best buy radioshack target walmart and independent dealers nationwide . virgin mobile branded top up cards are available online and in 150 000 retail locations nationwide . sprint corporation licenses the right to use the virgin mobile brand in the united states from united kingdom based virgin group . virgin mobile usa is headquartered in warren new jersey united states and provides service to approximately 6 million customers . 2 contents 1 history 1.1 foundation 1.2 initial public offering 1.3 acquisition of helio 1.4 full acquisition by sprint nextel 1.5 initial smartphones and beyond talk plans introduction 1.6 discontinuation of helio 1.7 integration of common cents mobile 1.8 initial 4g devices 2 services 2.1 virgin mobile 2.2 assurance wireless 3 coverage 4 distribution 5 current devices 6 service plans 6.1 paylo 6.2 unlimited plans more data 6.3 broadband2go 6.4 data done right 7 account security 8 lack of sim support 9 marketing 10 see also 11 references 12 external links history edit foundation edit virgin mobile usa was formed in 2000 by a small team of wireless experts in san francisco . in july of 2000 john tantum and dave whetstone pitched richard branson on entering the us market after virgin had successfully launched virgin mobile in the uk in the fall of 1999 . sounds great let s give it a go was branson s answer . at that point the us team began pitching the us mobile operators on the concept of an mvno which at the time was not well understood . there had been many resellers that had come and gone mci was one of the highest profile examples . the mvno concept virgin mobile was pitching to mobile operators was a joint venture where both parties would have aligned incentives to create a valuable business . this was very different than the often contentious relationship that mobile operators had with resellers . sprint had tried and failed twice with a prepaid product and decided that maybe a partner could do it better . once sprint stepped up the mobile network in september of 2001 a joint venture was created between virgin group and sprint corporation and a ceo dan schulman was brought in to run the business . virgin mobile usa began operating in the summer of 2002 and was the first mobile virtual network operator in the united states . because prepay had a downmarket perception at the time virgin mobile usa called it s service pay as you go . it was a prepaid only provider . citation needed initial public offering edit in may 2007 virgin mobile usa inc. initiated an initial public offering ipo by filing with the united states securities and exchange commission . 3 on october 10 2007 virgin mobile s sold 27.5 million shares at us 15 per share at the low end of the original 15 17 prediction . 4 on november 15 2007 approximately one month after the ipo virgin mobile usa announced earnings for the three month period ended september 30 2007 . the company reported that its third quarter loss widened to 7.3 million compared with a loss of 5.1 million in the year ago quarter . the company also reported a pro forma loss of 15 per share compared with a loss of 10 per share in the year ago period . as of november 16 2007 shares of the company s common stock had declined to 9.19 per share . citation needed the company reported in 2007 that it held an exclusive license for the virgin mobile brand in the united states u.s. virgin islands and puerto rico until the end of 2027 . in exchange virgin mobile usa agreed to pay 0.25 % of gross revenues up to an annual limit of 4 million adjusted annually for inflation . 5 acquisition of helio edit in 2008 virgin mobile usa acquired helio inc. a competing mobile virtual network operator mvno also hosted on the sprint network aimed at post paid contract users . 6 by late 2009 virgin mobile usa ceased selling new helio phones or service dropping the helio name . citation needed full acquisition by sprint nextel edit on july 28 2009 sprint nextel corporation agreed to acquire the outstanding shares of virgin mobile usa inc. in return for sprint nextel stock valued at approximately us 5.50 per share of virgin mobile usa common stock . 7 prior to the purchase sprint nextel owned 13.1 % of virgin mobile usa . 8 after the acquisition sprint nextel formed the sprint prepaid group an organizational division which included sprint s other prepaid offerings boost mobile and common cents mobile . initial smartphones and beyond talk plans introduction edit in may 2010 virgin mobile usa began offering its first smartphone the blackberry curve 8530 combined with new unlimited text and data beyond talk branded plans . 9 discontinuation of helio edit sprint nextel announced in march 2010 that virgin mobile usa would stop providing service to helio post paid customers on may 25 2010 . sprint nextel offered helio customers incentives to switch to sprint branded service plans . 10 integration of common cents mobile edit on may 18 2011 sprint nextel discontinued operating its common cents mobile pre paid brand . common cents mobile customers were transitioned to a virgin mobile usa paylo service plan that allowed the former common cents mobile customers to keep their existing .07 per minute rate . 11 12 initial 4g devices edit in may 2012 virgin mobile usa began offering 4g products and services using sprint s wimax network . the htc evo v 4g which was also previously released by sprint as the htc evo 3d was the first 4g smartphone . 13 on february 25 2013 virgin mobile usa released the samsung galaxy victory 4g lte its first 4g device using sprint s 4g lte network . on june 28 2013 virgin mobile usa released the apple iphone 5 its second device taking advantage of sprint s lte network . 14 on april 1 2014 virgin mobile usa released the netgear mingle mobile hotspot its first tri band device which is capable of using all three of sprint s lte bands . 15 services edit virgin mobile usa offers wireless products and services through virgin mobile paylo by virgin mobile and assurance wireless brought to you by virgin mobile . virgin mobile edit virgin mobile branded service is available to all wireless customers within the sprint nationwide network s in the contiguous united states hawaii and puerto rico coverage areas . assurance wireless edit virgin mobile usa offers lifeline telephone service subsidized by the united states federal communications commission s universal service fund under the assurance wireless brought to you by virgin mobile brand . the program offers a free wireless phone 250 free local and domestic long distance voice minutes and unlimited text messages per month to people who meet eligibility requirements and live in a participating state . in addition to the standard services users receive users may add additional voice minutes text messages and international long distance via pre payment using a credit card debit card virgin mobile top up card or paypal . assurance wireless users do not receive a bill are not required to sign a contract and do not pay activation fees or recurring fees . as of january 2013 update assurance wireless service is available to qualifying residents of alabama arkansas california connecticut delaware district of columbia florida georgia idaho indiana iowa kansas kentucky louisiana maine maryland massachusetts michigan minnesota mississippi new hampshire new jersey new york north carolina ohio oregon pennsylvania rhode island south carolina tennessee texas utah virginia washington wisconsin and west virginia . coverage edit virgin mobile usa currently provides wireless services in the contiguous united states hawaii and puerto rico via parent sprint s nationwide cdma evdo lte and sprint spark networks . 16 distribution edit virgin mobile products and services are sold via the virginmobileusa.com web site and at partner retail outlets including best buy radioshack target and walmart . 17 current devices edit virgin mobile usa current hardware includes basic and feature phones android smartphones iphones and also mobile broadband devices . 18 alcatel onetouch speakeasy paylo alcatel onetouch retro paylo kyocera kona paylo samsung galaxy s7 samsung galaxy j7 samsung galaxy j3 lg g stylo lg stylo 2 lg volt 2 lg tribute 4g lte lg tribute 5 virgin mobile lumia 635 htc desire 626s kyocera hydro reach moto g alcatel onetouch elevate huawei union 4g lte iphone 5s iphone 6 iphone 6 plus iphone 6s iphone 6s plus iphone 7 iphone 7 plus iphone se service plans edit virgin mobile usa offers services under four branded service plan types paylo voice text messaging and mobile web access plans unlimited plans more data voice text messaging and mobile web access plans broadband2go data plans and data done right talk text and mobile web access plans . virgin mobile usa service plans for phones do not allow roaming . virgin mobile maintains the text content of text messages for three months and records of to whom and when text messages were sent for two to three months . 19 paylo edit virgin mobile usa offers talk text messaging and mobile web access plans for feature phones and smartphones under the paylo by virgin mobile brand . virgin mobile usa offers both monthly and pay per use paylo branded service plans . there is no minimum monthly fee but any unused balance does not roll over from month to month . customers must purchase at least 20 every 90 days to keep an account active . 20 20 per month 400 minutes 15 text 1.50 mb for web access . 30 per month 1500 minutes 1500 text 30mb of web access . 40 per month unlimited minutes unlimited text 50mb of web access . unlimited plans more data edit virgin mobile usa offers unlimited talk text messaging