British billionaire Sir Richard Branson on Sunday launched ‘Virgin Mobile’ services in India through a brand franchise agreement with Tata Teleservices for the youth segment. Announcing the launch at a function here, Sir Richard said, “The launch of Virgin Mobile in India is a day I have looked forward to for many years. The vibrancy of its youth and culture  makes it Virgin territory!”

Speaking to reporters, Tata Teleservices’ Managing Director, Anil Sardana said, “We have a franchise arrangement with Virgin Group through which we strive to provide services to the youth segment and any joint venture will be considered in later stages. At the outset, let me assure that there is no airtime selling by anyone.”  He added, “Tata Tele will continue to get all regulatory clearances needed to provide Virgin Mobile services in the country.”

When asked about financial details of this tie-up, Mr Branson said, “We are not thinking in terms of profit for the next three years, till we achieve five million subscriber base. Profit will come after three years.” 

Talking about Virgin’s strategy in India, Sir Richard said, “Virgin Mobile’s strategy is different. We want to deliver a more tailored and relevant offering for a single segment.” Virgin will be launching the service with six colour handsets, prices of which will range between Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000.

“There are more than 215 million Indians aged between 14 -25 years old. Over the next three years, we expect this segment to be adding over 50 million new youth subscribers and to have mobile service revenues of over Rs 350 billion. We will target 10 per cent of the urban youth market,” said Jamie Heywood, Deputy CEO, Virgin Mobile India. The UK-based company, would bring in ‘10 telecom industry firsts’ to the Indian telecom market which includes getting payment for receiving calls, one-touch VAS access from every Virgin Mobile-branded market and ‘call more for less’ among others. Initially, customers will be able to access Virgin Mobile branded products and services in 50 cities across 17 telecom circles.

GSM space

Sir Richard Branson also expressed his intention to enter into India’s GSM mobile services space as well. Speaking to reporters here, Branson said as the Government rolls out more GSM network, Virgin Group would like to enter into the GSM field as well.

“Its a pain to do GSM at the moment because the network is completely full. If more capacity comes there, we plan to venture into that area as well,” Branson said.