Readers of this periodical may not be the target audience of Sir Richard Branson’s cellphone business in Mexico but the young-at-heart might want to give the new provider a second glance.
In operation since June, Virgin Mobile Mexico has the lofty goal of attracting one million customers in its first year – most of them in the 18-35 year-old age bracket.
That’s not surprising given that Virgin likes to refer to its customers as “rockstars,” its sales staff as “rock promoters” and its call center operators as “rock agents.”
Its fresh-faced marketing campaign, including a youthful-looking website, is aimed at setting itself apart from Mexico’s established “one-size-fits-all” carriers, led by market leaders America Movil (Telcel), which has gobbled up 70 percent of the nation’s cellphone market.
One of Virgin Mobile’s main sales strategies is charging by the second rather than the minute. While this works out cheaper for brief calls, their rate of three centavos a second is equivalent to 1.80 pesos a minute, almost double Telcel’s fee of 98 centavos. It’s download data charge is also twice Telcel’s rate.
Virgin also hopes to attract younger customers with a series of add-ons such as free apps, two-for-one movie tickets and other extras.
Virgin Mobile may never be able to match Telcel for price, since it does not have its own network, and simply resells its minutes, which it buys wholesale from Telefonica (Movistar).
Virgin is also taking advantage of the new telecommunications law that now allows providers to “unlock” competitors’ phones that are under pre-paid plans.
Branson’s incursion into the Latin American cellphone market started in Chile and Colombia, where more than 100,000 subscribers have been signing up each month.
Billionaire Branson began his business career with a chain of record stores in the United Kingdom, before starting a successful record label. His Virgin Group now comprises more than 400 companies, including an airline, bank and railroad line. He has also created the first space tourism company, Virgin Galactic. His estimated worth is around four billion dollars.
For more information on Virgin Mobile Mexico, visit http://virginmobile.mx.