TORONTO – Virgin Mobile Canada announced today it will enter the post-paid wireless market in 2008. So far, the company has attracted more than 400,000 customers, all of whom are pre-paid clients.
Sir Richard Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group of Companies and founder Virgin Mobile Canada, made the announcement today.
"Virgin Mobile will bring real competition and offer customers a simpler, more transparent, and fairer post-paid option," said Branson, in a release.
At the press conference Branson was joined by A&E magician Criss Angel, star of Mindfreak, who, after making the be-knighted one "appear" on stage from out of nowhere, Angel invited the crowd to answer a series of questions about their mobile phones to which he had predicted the answers and placed in a suspended locked box. Angel then stunned the audience by correctly revealing the answers on a Virgin Mobile phone.
"Since launch, Virgin has fought to bring Canadians a simpler, more honest mobile phone service," added Branson. "Canadians on annual plans have been asking us to create an offer for them and to take the ‘con’ out of contracts. Today we’re excited to let you know that we will do exactly that and we can’t wait to completely shake up the post-paid market."
With an estimated 800,000 people ready to sign contracts this holiday season, Branson further warned Canadians to be careful what they sign, and that Virgin Mobile will offer unlimited free text for a year to the first 500 customers who pre-register for the new post-paid service at virginmobile.ca.
