Tata Tele launches Virgin Mobile services

2nd March, 2008, Chennai: 'Virgin Mobile' services are being offered to consumers by Tata Teleservices through a brand franchise with the Virgin Group. Virgin Mobile India is an association between Virgin Group and Tata Teleservices which will facilitate Tata Teleservices with its experience and expertise in designing, marketing and servicing TTL's Virgin Mobile branded products for the youth segment.

The Virgin Mobile brand philosophy of 'Think Hatke' is encapsulated in Virgin Mobile India's desire to redefine India's mobile services landscape. "The launch of Virgin Mobile today sees the Virgin Mobile brand arrive in India "� a day I have looked forward to for many years. India is a country I hold dear to my heart; the vibrancy of its youth and culture truly makes it Virgin territory! At Virgin Mobile we believe that the existing operators are all pursuing the same strategy: to get as many subscribers as quickly as possible. Virgin Mobile's strategy is different. We want to deliver a more tailored, more relevant offering for a single, distinct segment. We are not pursuing scale for scale's sake," said Sir Richard Branson, Chairman and Founder of the Virgin Group, in today's press conference. "Our association with the Tata's unites the passion of our two business groups for putting customers first and finding innovative, fun ways of enriching their lives, and it represents Virgin Group's strong focus on India. In true Virgin tradition, Virgin Mobile brings to all its customers ten firsts to the Indian telecoms market - we're even going to pay our customers to talk. Now that really is - Think Hatke!," he added.

TTL's Virgin Mobile offers India's youth at least ten industry 'Firsts' that include 'Get Paid to Receive Calls', 'One-touch VAS access from every Virgin Mobile-branded handset', 'Call more for less', 'True Care' and a value-for-money handset range that makes 'Virgin Mobile' the only service brand offering handsets that are '100% colour, 100% FM.

In another 'First', Sir Richard Branson, launched Virgin Mobile brand in India, by 'flying' down the façade of The Hilton Towers in Mumbai and unveiling the Virgin Mobile logo in mid flight.

Anil Sardana, Managing Director, Tata Teleservices said "We are very excited about our association with the Virgin Group. Their service innovation and strong brand resonance with the youth segment will allow Tata Teleservices to offer a truly world-class service experience to our youth subscribers. This association also supports our efforts to be the fastest growing mobile network in India".

"There are more than 215 million Indians aged between 14 -25 years old. Over the next three years, we expect this segment to be adding over 50 million new youth subscribers and to have mobile service revenues of over Rs 350 billion. By focusing exclusively on a single segment and by continuing to deliver innovative services that cater to this segment's distinct needs, we believe Virgin Mobile can capture more than 10 percent of this incremental market within 3 years of launch," said Jamie Heywood, Deputy CEO, Virgin Mobile India.

For more information and photographs of the launch please visit www.virginmobile.in & https://bsmedia.business-standard.comtatateleservices.com/

About Virgin Mobile

TTL's Virgin Mobile brand is India's 'first' national youth-focused mobile service. Virgin Mobile branded services will be offered to the Indian consumers by Tata Teleservices through a brand franchise with Virgin. Virgin Mobile India will facilitate Tata Teleservices with experience and expertise in designing, marketing and servicing of Virgin Mobile branded products for the youth segment. Virgin Mobile services will be supported from nine centers across nine cities and will have a bench strength of 250 personnel. At launch, although the Virgin Mobile branded service will be available nationwide, it will focus on subscriber acquisition in the top 50 cities which will extend to over 1000 cities by year end. Virgin Mobile branded handsets will be available across 15,000 outlets and its top up cards across 40,000 outlets nationally.

About Virgin - The Group

Virgin, a leading branded venture capital organization, is one of the world's most recognized and respected brands. Conceived in 1970 by Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin Group has gone on to grow very successful businesses in sectors ranging from mobile telephony to transportation, travel, financial services, leisure, music, holidays, publishing and retailing. Virgin has created more than 200 branded companies worldwide, employing approximately 50,000 people, in 29 countries. Its revenues around the world in 2006 exceeded £10 billion (approx. US$20 billion).

About Tata Teleservices

Tata Teleservices is one of India's leading private telecom service providers. The company offers integrated telecom solutions to its customers under the Tata Indicom brand, and uses the latest CDMA 3G1X technology for its wireless network. Tata Teleservices along with Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) Limited operates in more than 5000 towns across 20 circles i.e.

Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Gujarat, Karnataka, New Delhi, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (E), Uttar Pradesh (W), Kolkata, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.