Virgin Media, formerly known as UPC, is to launch its new Virgin Mobile brand in Ireland on Monday 5 October with unlimited data, voice and texts for €25 a month, the CEO of Virgin Media in Ireland Magnus Ternsjö told Siliconrepublic.com. Virgin founder Richard Branson is in Dublin today (1 October) to launch the new mobile brand.
Ternsjö said that the new mobile operator will launch initially with 3G data services before moving to 4G in the first half of next year.
Virgin Media will be providing its new mobile service as part of an MVNO arrangement with Hutchison Whampoa-owned Three.
“We are super-excited to bring the Virgin Media brand to Ireland,” Ternsjö said. “It is the start of a new journey for us and will continue the good work we had done under the UPC brand.”
Interestingly, Virgin Media will be the first mobile operator to launch in Ireland without a series of handsets.
Instead, the company will focus on enabling users to import their existing numbers to its network. New numbers will be facilitated with the 089 prefix.
Ternsjö said that Virgin Media is putting together a lineup of new handsets that will be launched in the new year
The new operator will offer two key products: an unlimited data bundle with unlimited calls and texts for €25; and a limited data bundle with 1GB data and 250 minutes of voice and 250 texts for €15 a month.
