Foundation
Virgin Mobile USA was formed in 2000 in San Francisco. In July 2000, John Tantum and Dave Whetstone pitched Richard Branson on entering the U.S. market after Virgin had successfully launched Virgin Mobile in the United Kingdom in 1999. At that point, the U.S. team began pitching the U.S. mobile operators on the concept of an MVNO, which at the time was not well understood. The MVNO concept Virgin Mobile was pitching to mobile operators was a joint venture, where both parties would have aligned incentives, rather than the often-contentious relationship that mobile operators had with resellers. A joint venture was created between Virgin Group and Sprint Corporation, and Dan Schulman was brought in to run the business. Virgin Mobile USA began operating in the summer of 2002. Because prepaid mobile had a downmarket perception at the time, Virgin Mobile USA called its service "pay as you go."
Initial public offering
In May 2007, Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. initiated an initial public offering (IPO) by filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.[5] On October 10, 2007, Virgin Mobile's sold 27.5 million shares at US$15 per share, at the low end of the original $15–$17 prediction.[6]
On November 15, 2007, approximately one month after the IPO, Virgin Mobile USA announced earnings for the three-month period ended September 30, 2007. The company reported that its third-quarter loss widened to $7.3 million, compared with a loss of $5.1 million in the year-ago quarter. The company also reported a pro-forma loss of 15¢ per share, compared with a loss of 10¢ per share in the year-ago period. As of November 16, 2007, shares of the company's common stock had declined to $9.19 per share.
The company reported in 2007 that it held an exclusive license for the Virgin Mobile brand in the United States, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico until the end of 2027. In exchange, Virgin Mobile USA agreed to pay 0.25% of gross revenues up to an annual limit of $4 million, adjusted annually for inflation.[7]
Acquisition of Helio
In 2008, Virgin Mobile USA acquired Helio, Inc., a competing mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) also hosted on the Sprint network, aimed at post-paid, contract users.[8] By late 2009, Virgin Mobile USA ceased selling new Helio phones or service, dropping the Helio name.
Full acquisition by Sprint Nextel
On July 28, 2009, Sprint Nextel Corporation agreed to acquire the outstanding shares of Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. in return for Sprint Nextel stock valued at approximately US$5.50 per share of Virgin Mobile USA common stock.[9] Prior to the purchase, Sprint Nextel owned 13.1% of Virgin Mobile USA.[10]
After the acquisition, Sprint Nextel formed the Sprint Prepaid Group, an organizational division which included Sprint's other prepaid offerings, Boost Mobile and Common Cents Mobile.
Initial smartphones and Beyond Talk plans introduction
In May 2010, Virgin Mobile USA began offering its first smartphone, the BlackBerry Curve 8530, combined with new, unlimited text and data Beyond Talk-branded plans.[11]
Discontinuation of Helio
Sprint Nextel announced in March 2010 that Virgin Mobile USA would stop providing service to Helio post-paid customers on May 25, 2010. Sprint Nextel offered Helio customers incentives to switch to Sprint-branded service plans.[12]
Integration of Common Cents Mobile
On May 18, 2011, Sprint Nextel discontinued operating its Common Cents Mobile pre-paid brand. Common Cents Mobile customers were transitioned to a Virgin Mobile USA payLo service plan that allowed the former Common Cents Mobile customers to keep their existing $.07 per minute rate.[13][14]
Initial 4G devices
On May 31, 2012, Virgin Mobile USA began offering 4G products and services using Sprint's 2500 MHz 4G WiMAX network. The HTC EVO V 4G, which was also previously released by Sprint as the HTC EVO 3D was the first 4G smartphone.[15]
On February 25, 2013, Virgin Mobile USA released the Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTE, its first 4G device using Sprint's 4G LTE network. On June 28, 2013, Virgin Mobile USA released the Apple iPhone 5, its second device taking advantage of Sprint's LTE network.[16] On April 1, 2014, Virgin Mobile USA released the NETGEAR Mingle mobile hotspot, its first tri-band device which is capable of using all three of Sprint's LTE bands.
Inner Circle, transition to iPhone only
In June 2017, Virgin Mobile USA announced a new promotional offer known as "Inner Circle", offering an "unlimited" data plan (subject to throttling of media streaming quality, and full throttling of data after 23 GB of usage) for $50 per-month, and that new customers would receive a year of service for $1, and another six-month period for $1 if they purchase a new device after their second year of service. At the same time, the carrier transitioned to only offering iPhone products to new customers, and dropped all other devices from its smartphone lineup.[17]
The Inner Circle plan was discontinued in August 2018; the carrier then started to return Android devices to its lineup, citing consumer demand.[18]
Discontinuation
In mid-2018 Virgin Mobile was pulled out of Target stores. Shortly thereafter a majority of the Virgin Mobile workforce was laid off.[19] In April 2019 the brand was pulled out of Best Buy and in May, Meijer.[20] In October 2019, Virgin Mobile was pulled from Walmart leaving the company without a national retail presence.[21] In January 2020, the company began notifying its customers by text message that it was discontinuing service and that in February 2020 customer accounts would be migrated to Boost Mobile.[22][23]
