Virgin Mobile tannounced the launch of its new mobile TV service, Virgin Mobile TV, and confirmed the that it will be offering a selection of much-loved premium channels and programming to Virgin Mobile TV viewers, starting on October 1st 2006.

Virgin Mobile TV will broadcast BBC One, ITV1, Channel 4 and E4, offering consumers a wide range of high-profile channels and TV programmes. Customers who have a Virgin Mobile �Tellyphone’ will be able to watch their favourite TV programmes and listen to DAB digital radio wherever they are. Wherever you need to watch TV, whether it’s Eastenders on the bus, or Coronation Street in a cab, Virgin Mobile TV will make sure you never have to miss an episode of your favourite programme again.

The service, which is provided by BT’s wholesale mobile broadcast entertainment service, BT Movio, will also broadcast DAB digital radio, offer �red-button’ interactivity and features an exclusive seven-day electronic programme guide (EPG).

Virgin Mobile TV can be viewed on the Virgin Mobile Lobster 700 Mobile TV phone, which will be available from October 1st through Virgin Mobile Stores within Virgin Megastores and WHSmiths, its standalone stores, and direct from virginmobile.com/mobile. Virgin Mobile offers the mobile TV phone and service for free for customers on a contract of ВЈ25 a month or more, for the life of their contract. The phone is available on pre-pay for ВЈ199, when the service will be free for an initial three-month period, followed by a charge of ВЈ5 a month. BBC One will be available on a trial basis for 12 months and will be provided free to consumers. Customers who buy a contract in Virgin Mobile Stores also benefit from double the amount of airtime compared to standard tariffs available in other retailers.

The new Virgin Mobile TV device will be supported with a multi-million pound advertising campaign, starring the world-famous actress Pamela Anderson. The ads will be seen on British TV for the first time on October 9th.

Virgin Mobile’s TV service broadcasts TV live** �as it happens’ over the DAB digital frequency spectrum, which currently covers more than 85% of the UK population. The Lobster 700 Mobile TV phone is the world’s first DAB-IP-enabled handset, and was created by HTC. As well as offering TV and up to 50 DAB digital radio stations, the handset is also Virgin Mobile’s first Windows-operated smartphone, offering Windows Mobile functionality and Windows Media Player. The device is the first in a series of mobile phones being developed to support the BT Movio service.

Alan Gow, managing director of Virgin Mobile, said: “The launch of Virgin Mobile’s вЂ?Tellyphone’ is a real watershed, both in terms of mobile devices and the evolution of broadcasting. Virgin Mobile finally delivers what others have been promising for so long – real TV broadcast to your mobile, delivering the programmes you want to watch, when you want to watch them, in a simple and easy-to-use experience. We are hugely proud of the Virgin Mobile TV service and I think it could revolutionise how, when and where people choose to watch TV.”

Emma Lloyd, managing director, BT Movio, said: “BT Movio looks forward to working with Virgin Mobile as our first customer. We fully anticipate that their well-known marketing flare will attract many UK consumers to the service, which will offer the strongest TV and digital radio content for mobile phones yet to be seen in the UK.”

On 1 September, Vodafone UK will launch �Your Price Plan’ and �Your Extras’, a new contract offering providing customers with more value and choice than ever before.

Not only is Vodafone UK offering better value on the number of inclusive texts, minutes and extras across its price plans, but it is also giving customers further ways to combine them than any other network, meaning they get more options than any other tariff on the market.

Better Value
Your Price Plan offers great value with new deals across a variety of price points. Your Extras give a variety of options to choose from, including texts and minutes, line rental discounts and six months of the best mobile TV content around – providing significant savings to customers. For example, for just ВЈ35 per month Vodafone customers on an 18-month contract could now combine a number of extras to get the following:

- 750 minutes and 250 texts
- 500 minutes and 1000 texts
- 500 minutes, 500 texts and 6 months free mobile TV

Wider Choice
Nobody likes to be put in a box, and with Your Price Plan, Vodafone contract customers have greater choice to select a package that fits their needs – more fine tailoring than off the peg. But to ensure this doesn’t mean added complexity for customers, Vodafone has trained over 4,000 staff on the new price plan to help customers make the decision that is best for them.

“If you’re cost conscious, make both calls and texts and want to catch up on all the latest music and entertainment, then we would advise taking out a £25 price plan with an eighteen month contract,” says Vodafone UK’s Director of Consumer, Tim Yates.

“With our recommended Your Extras, you would get 150 free minutes plus Stop the Clock minutes on-top, meaning you could talk for up to 60 minutes per call at evenings and weekends and only ever pay for three. You would also get 100 inclusive texts and could choose a six month free Sky Music and Entertainment Mobile TV Pack.”

Tim Yates, added “With Your Price Plan and Your Extras Vodafone customers will get the best choice of any contract offering on the market. We’ve paid close attention to what contract customers want and what the market is currently offering. We believe we’ve come back with something that gives value to every customer – in the way they want it. There really couldn’t be a better time to be a Vodafone contract customer.”

Your Price Plan and Your Extras follow other recent value initiatives for Vodafone customers including Vodafone Free Weekends where pay as you talk customers who spend ВЈ5.00 during the week get free calls to any UK network and texts all weekend, while those who spend ВЈ2.50 receive free texts for the whole weekend.

Orange announces today that it will become the first mobile network to offer its customers unlimited voice calls to mobiles and landlines, texts and data. The updated packages will provide customers with unlimited access to the services that they use most.

Customers joining Orange or upgrading to an 18 month tariff and spending from over Р?35 per month will be given an unlimited service based on their needs. The highly sociable who choose the Dolphin package will receive unlimited texts on packages over Р?35. Racoon, which is aimed at those who use their phone as a tool not a toy will get unlimited calls to landlines. Customers who love to talk and choose the Canary package will receive unlimited evening and weekend calls, and those who like extras as standard would choose a package from Panther and receive unlimited off-peak texts.

The improved packages will be communicated by a Р?5 million advertising campaign featuring the animals and will appear on television, outdoor and in print. The television advert will feature four 45ft inflatables, one representing each of the Orange animals. As part of this campaign, around 10,000 customers were invited to participate in the Orange Project and be part in the advert. The invitation appeared in the national press, by text message and on the Orange website. 40 successful customers joined the film crew in Spain for the shoot, where they worked with others with their personality to build the animal balloon that best represented them. All had the same task but approached it in very different ways.

Jean-Pascal van Overbeke, Vice President Marketing Orange UK said: “Our animal packages make it easier for our customers to choose the right package for them, each of which is built specifically around the distinct behavioural characteristics of mobile phone users. During the four months since their birth, we have continued to learn from our customers about how each group uses their mobiles. It is now time to use this insight to make the packages more relevant and make sure that we are providing Orange customers with great value.”