Virgin Mobile USA Unwraps New Cross-Messaging Packs

WARREN, N.J., March 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Virgin Mobile USA, America's leading wireless youth network, is unwrapping the first cross-messaging packages without long-term contracts for tech-savvy customers who love to stay connected in a variety of ways. Launching April 10, the new Messaging Packs will include text, picture, IM and email messaging in three pricing plans, giving Virgin Mobile's more than 4.6 million customers one-cent photo messaging and the flexibility to select the plan that best fits their needs. Virgin Mobile continues to enhance its messaging capabilities and has recently signed with Yahoo! to offer customers both Yahoo! Messenger and Yahoo! Mail as well.

Virgin Mobile USA customers can choose from the following plans that allow them to mix and match the type of messages they use:

   * $1.99 per month for 50 messages sent and received
   * $4.99 per month for 200 messages sent and received
   * $9.99 per month for 1,000 messages sent and received

"Convenience and value for our customers is what we're all about. Last year, Virgin Mobile launched 'penny texting' at just $9.99 per month for 1,000 text messages. Now, with this $9.99 package, 'penny texting' becomes 'penny messaging,'" said Dominick Tolli, vice president of Mobile Data Services for Virgin Mobile USA. "Last year, Virgin Mobile customers sent and received 1.5 billion text messages, 11 million picture messages, and 34 million IM messages." Virgin Mobile encourages customers to choose the messaging plan that best fits their usage, and customers can change from one plan to another at anytime without a fee.

How to Send a Message? Let Us Count the Ways

With picture messaging, customers can also include up to a 20 second audio spot -- either their own recorded voice or something pre-recorded -- and up to 500 characters of text. The new $9.99 pricing makes Virgin Mobile picture messaging available for one penny each.

Virgin Mobile also offers competitive international texting rates to over 170 countries worldwide giving customers another way to keep in touch with friends and family around the globe.

Another feature allows customers to check their personal or home e-mail accounts via selected third party e-mail providers. This service allows customers to have multiple personal or home e-mail messages all sent to one home page from their handsets.

And Virgin Mobile customers can also reach out to friends and family through Text To Landline, a surprisingly easy and convenient way to reach those without mobile phones. The customer texts a message to any landline phone number, and the message will be received as a voice recording from Virgin Mobile's operator "Simone." The recipient can then choose to respond to the message with a voicemail or have the message transposed to text.

Virgin Mobile will offer convenient pricing for individual messages as well. Domestic text messages are 5?? to send and 5?? to receive. International text messages are 20?? to send and 10?? to receive. Domestic picture messages are 25?? to send and 25?? to receive, and they may not be sent to an international phone number. Email messages are 5?? to send and 5?? to receive, as well as 5?? for each notification message. Instant messages are 5?? to send and 5?? to receive.

Customers can purchase these cross-messaging offers via the WAP deck, or by visiting http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ or by calling Customer Care. Voicemail, Virgin Mobile Audio Messaging (VAM) and international texting do not apply to the message bundling offers.

About Virgin Mobile USA, LLC

The nation's leading wireless youth network, Virgin Mobile USA provides more than 4.6 million customers with the most flexibility and choice in wireless products and services without long-term contracts. Voice pricing plans range from monthly options with unlimited nights and weekends to by-the-minute offers, allowing consumers to adjust how and what they pay according to their needs. Virgin Mobile's full slate of smart, stylish and affordable handsets, including the popular Switch_Back and Slice, are available at more than 35,000 retail locations nationwide and online at http://www.virginmobileusa.com/, with Top-Up cards available at more than 130,000 locations.

Virgin Mobile USA operates on the Sprint Nationwide PCS network, and is a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Sprint Nextel. J.D. Power and Associates has ranked Virgin Mobile highest in customer satisfaction among wireless prepaid services, and its own customers report a 94%* satisfaction rate. Proud of its charitable and environmental programs, Virgin Mobile donates 5% of profits from downloadable content to The RE*Generation, its pro-social initiative to help millions of at-risk and homeless teens; and provides postage-paid return envelopes in every new package for customers to recycle old phones.