UPDATED: Virgin Mobile to raise Beyond Talk prices but drop BlackBerry add-on fee

Sprint Nextel's (NYSE:S) Virgin Mobile prepaid brand will increase its Beyond Talk price plans this week but drop the cost of its most expensive plan, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) Triumph

Virgin Mobile will soon sell the Motorola Mobility Triumph Android smartphone.

Sprint spokeswoman Jayne Wallace confirmed to FierceWireless that starting this week Virgin Mobile will increase the price of its Beyond Talk $25 plan, which includes unlimited texting, email and data and 300 voice minutes, to $35. The $40 plan, which comes with unlimited texting, email and data and 1,200 minutes, will increase to $45.

Meanwhile, the unlimited $60 plan will drop to $55, and Virgin also will drop a $10 add-on fee for Research In Motion (NASDAQ:RIMM) BlackBerry devices. The pricing changes were first reported by the blog MobileCrunch.

Wallace said the changes are being made because Virgin Mobile is evolving its identity from a pay-as-you-go service to a postpaid-alternative with high-end smartphones.

"Like all major carriers, we've seen data usage in particular increase significantly over the past few months, and are taking these steps to ensure customers continue to enjoy unlimited data while using Virgin Mobile, without overages or a contract," she said. "Smartphone penetration within the pre- and postpaid markets has grown exponentially, with mobile data traffic increasing to match. We have a commitment to deliver top-of-the-line smartphones to our customers without a contract at attractive prices and remain focused on offering the best value in wireless."

The changes come ahead of Virgin's launch of the Motorola Mobility (NYSE:MMI) Triumph, the brand's first Motorola Android device. The device runs Android's 2.2 Froyo operating system, has a 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen and a 1 GHz Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon processor. It also has a 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video capture and a front-facing VGA camera for video chatting.

For more:
- see this MobileCrunch post

Related Articles:
Sprint teams with Motorola to launch 10 smartphones in 2011
Sprint discontinues Common Cents Mobile prepaid brand
Virgin Mobile to cap data speeds if users exceed 5 GB limit
Sprint launches multi-pronged prepaid wireless strategy

Correction, July 11, 2011: This article originally incorrectly said the price changes affecetd Virgin Mobile's PayLo plans. The changes are for Beyond Talk plans.