Virgin Media gets juicier with BlackBerry smartphones

Press release

BlackBerry smartphones now available on Pay As You Go on Virgin Media

Following the astonishing uptake of BlackBerry® smartphones on the Virgin Media network since launching a number of market-leading contract deals in 2010, Virgin Media today announced the launch of a range of new options for customers looking for a more flexible way to surf, tweet and email on the move with its new Pay As You Go (PAYG) service. With nearly 200,000 sold through in 2010, BlackBerry smartphones represented a third of Virgin Media's contract handset shipments, highlighting the amazing popularity of BlackBerry in the UK. With the new PAYG service, Virgin Media customers will be able to take full advantage of unlimited BlackBerry services without the need for a monthly contract, giving customers an incredibly flexible way to stay in touch as and when they need.

With an impressive range of smartphones including the BlackBerry® Curve^TM 8520, BlackBerry® Curve^TM 3G 9300, BlackBerry® Bold^TM 9780, BlackBerry® Pearl^TM 3G and BlackBerry® Torch^TM 9800, customers have a great choice of smartphones to suit their needs, with a simple way to keep topped up as needed. Customers can buy either a £2 weekly or £5 monthly pass in order to activate the full range of BlackBerry data services, which includes up to ten supported email accounts, the incredibly popular BBM^TM (BlackBerry® Messenger) as well as Internet browsing and access to apps on BlackBerry App World. To enable their BlackBerry smartphone on PAYG, customers simply text ‘WEEK' or ‘MONTH' to 789030 whenever they need to activate the service. Virgin Media has also created a specifically designed app to make it easier for customers to buy the passes and help manage their usage, which will be available for download in due course.

Graeme Oxby, executive director of Mobile and Home Phone at Virgin Media said: "BlackBerry smartphones have become a firm favourite with Virgin Media families, demonstrating how our customers love the best in connectivity, be it at home or on the go. With a massive uptake in 2010, catalysed by our market-leading ‘unbeatable' £10 deal, one in three of our contract customers chose a BlackBerry smartphone last year, with a significant number of Virgin Media households now enjoying the benefits of our quadplay offering. As the BlackBerry brand continues its growth as an extremely popular consumer device, we're committed to delivering new and affordable ways for customers to enjoy BlackBerry smartphones and services."

Smartphones currently available on BlackBerry PAYG:

• BlackBerry Curve 8520
• BlackBerry Curve 3G
• BlackBerry Pearl 3G
• BlackBerry Bold 9780
• BlackBerry Torch 9800

Existing Virgin Media customers with home phone services are able to take advantage of free calls** to Virgin Mobiles as part of their inclusive free calls periods. Additionally, existing Virgin Media customers can also take advantage of the exclusive ‘Simply 8p' PAYG tariff, which comes with 50 free minutes per month of calls to other Virgin Mobiles and reduced rates for calls and texts compared to the standard Addict PAYG tariff.

For more information on Virgin Media please visit http://www.virginmedia.com/

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Media Contacts:

Ashley Scott, Virgin Media - 0207 299 5705, ashley.scott@virginmedia.co.uk

Notes to editors:

Addict and Simply 8p tariff pricing

* That's numbers beginning with 01, 02, 03 or 07 and excludes call forwarding services
** Free calls to Virgin Mobiles are available from Virgin Media home phone during inclusive periods; M - Talk weekends, L - Talk evenings and weekends, XL - Talk unlimited. Free calls from Virgin Media home phone refer to calls made to UK geographic voice numbers and Virgin Mobiles. Free calls from Virgin Media home phone or Virgin Mobiles to Virgin Mobiles are only to ‘active' Virgin Mobile numbers. To be "active", the Virgin Mobile number called must have originated a chargeable outbound event (call, SMS, data session) within the previous 90 days. A customer must also re-dial before 60 minutes to avoid call charges. If you call a Virgin Mobile number that is roaming overseas, that number will still be charged any applicable roaming tariff, even though your part of the call may be free.
***BlackBerry passes are subject to a fair use policy and a total allowance of 50MB a day for BlackBerry Mail, Messenger and Mobile Web
**** After 25MB we may charge customers £2 for each additional MB used.
Outside the UK roaming charges will also apply. Price correct at time of press.