Virgin Mobile to go postpaid in Canada

Earlier this week, Virgin Mobile Canada announced that it would expand its efforts in the country by offering postpaid services in addition to its signature prepaid offerings. This seems anathema to Virgin’s stance on contracts, a strategy they’ve used well in both the U.S. and Canada. But from a business standpoint, it makes enough sense for Virgin Group founder Richard Branson to change models. Virgin is already the No. 1 prepaid provider in Canada, and the company isn’t sure how much further they can expand in that niche.

“The problem with pre-paid is that we built a great brand, but it’s only twenty-two percent of the market,” Branson said. “By going postpaid, we’ve got the whole Canadian audience … and we’ve got to be ahead of the game.”

However, it might not be an easy transition for Virgin. They target the youth demographic, a group that oftentimes cannot pass a credit check, requisite for a postpaid cell contract. Virgin USA also announced their quarterly numbers, and while they’re still operating at a loss, they’re making strides to pull themselves into the black. As far as subscriber data, they added 759,927 customers in the third quarter, a number that brought their total customer base to 4.9 million, up 23 percent from this time last year. Churn was at 4.9 percent, which, once again, isn’t abnormal for prepaid services. [Washington Post] [Telecommunications Industry News]]]>