Branson's Virgin Mobile debuts in the US at a time when the telecommunications sector is in a general state of financial meltdown, with network equipment makers posting quarterly losses and laying off employees, wireless carriers expecting to merge this year and handset maker Nokia predicting an unprecedented second straight year of decreasing global cell phone sales. And Virgin Mobile is entering the new United States market just weeks after Branson's version of Virgin Mobile in Singapore was shuttered because of limited sales, the company said. Virgin Mobile is targeting 18 to 25 year olds, who make up one of the last untapped wireless marketplaces left in the United States, where 140 million people own and use wireless phones. "They have the right target in mind," said Gartner wireless analyst Bryan Prohm. The retail rollouts could be critical for the company, Prohm said. Tens of thousands of stores in the United States already sell at least six different carriers' phones. Virgin Mobile needs to have its phones alongside theirs, if anything other than just to get customers to realise there's a new cell phone carrier in town, Prohm said. "It's a start within the retail channels, but Virgin Mobile will obviously have to bulk up," Prohm said. Virgin began selling its brand of pre-paid phones on a limited basis beginning on 20 June, promising a broader rollout sometime in the next few weeks. Virgin Mobile is the first example in the United States of a popular idea elsewhere -- the virtual network operator (VNO). Such a company doesn't own a telephone network nor build its own phones, but instead partners with a phone maker and network company. Kyocera built Virgin Mobile's phones, which operate on the Sprint PCS network. Such arrangements allow companies with a strong brand name to enter into the phone business, even though they have no previous experience. A Virgin Mobile representative was not immediately available for comment.
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