The Virgin Mobile brand is coming to France after regulators approved its deal with Europe's largest retailer Carphone Warehouse to offer French consumers free text messages and cheaper tariffs by reselling services from dominant mobile-phone operator Orange. France is viewed as one of Europe's lease competitive mobile markets, and last year two of the country's largest operators were fined for collusion. Virgin head Sir Richard Branson said that after years of debate, pressure from regulators had finally given Virgin the opportunity to compete in the French market with an MVNO operation. Branson is aiming for 1 million users in three years. Meanwhile, rumors are heating up again that the takeover of Virgin by NTL is imminent. Sir Richard dodged those questions in a press conference.
To read more about Virgin's move into the French market:
- check out this article from telecoms.com (sub. req.)
- take a look at this report from The Register