Virgin Mobile launches GSM services in Maharashtra

After a successful launch in the southern states and Orissa, Virgin Mobile today commercially launched its GSM services in Mumbai and Maharashtra.

For now, consumers across Maharashtra and Mumbai circle will be offered a differentiated tariff proposition of 20p/min for STD and local calls to any Virgin Mobile number without any pack, a press release issued here stated.

Virgin Mobile customers calling any other network will be charged at 40p/min for local and 50p/min for STD calls, again, without any packs, the release said.

Virgin Mobile GSM services will be available in 105 towns through more than 29,450 Re-charge Vouchers (RCVs) and 25,929 SIM User Kits (SUKs) outlets which will cater to 77% of the urban youth population across Mumbai and Maharashtra, it said.

The company will offer two SMS packs priced at Rs33 and Rs69. The special pack priced at Rs 33 is available nationally and comes with 2,000 local and national SMSs free for 30 days.

The friendliest pack priced at Rs 69 will offer 500 local and national SMS free daily. It comes with a validity of 30-days, the release said.

The company's pan-India service roll-out will be completed by the end of this financial year, it said. The company has appointed Ranbir Kapoor and Genelia D’Souza as its new brand ambassadors.

"With the launch of our services, we intend to stir the GSM space with another ten firsts. I am confident that the brand will garner 10 per cent marketshare in the urban youth segment, through differentiated service to consumers," Virgin Mobile India's chief executive officer, MA Madhusudan, said.

Virgin Mobile, with its foray into the GSM segment, has announced ten industry 'firsts' for the youth of India, clearly looking forward to garner a significant market share.

The ten industry 'firsts' include the innovative VAS offerings like 'Friend Circle', 'vBelong’, ‘vGenie’, ‘WOW’ ‘vJingle’ with more to follow with music, infotainment and social networking as the key areas of focus, the release said.

Earlier, the company launched its GSM services in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa.