The thing about big-time wireless carriers with nationwide networks is that they’re always looking to become even bigger-time wireless carriers. Sprint (NYSE: S), for example, has just announced that it will be acquiring Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) for the not-so-small sum of $483 million. The deal is part of Sprint’s push to focus on the pre-paid wireless market in the US. The acquisition will have Sprint paying $5.50 per Virgin Mobile USA share.

Sprint plans to bring control of its own pre-paid Boost network under the control of Virgin Mobile USA’s current CEO Dan Schulman. The Boost pre-paid network and Virgin Mobile USA’s own pre-paid user-base are considered complementary, and will continue to operate in parallel. The deal will cancel out $248 million in outstanding debt on VM USA’s books, and will boost Sprint’s wireless ranks by some 5.2 million customers. That’s not enough to make the No. 3 US wireless carrier any more of a threat to AT&T (NYSE: T) or Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless, but it sure does make Sprint a good deal bigger than T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USA.

Of course, as with all deals of this size and nature, Sprint will have to wait for feds and regulators to sign off on the deal. As it stands, this fall or early 2010 is looking like a good bet for regulatory approval of the acquisition.

Bell and Virgin Mobile up in Canada are all set to launch the Samsung Link in the very near future. Last I heard, Bell was set to launch the Link on July 30th… No details have been available on a Virgin Mobile launch… until now. A live link has appeared on the Virgin Mobile website, showing off the new Samsung Link in a bold blue color.

With a live page up-and-running, one can only speculate the device will be launched in the near future… probably the 30th as well. No details on pricing yet, but stay tuned for more on the Bell (and Virgin Mobile) Samsung Link.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Virgin Mobile is in the midst of talks with various potential partners such as cable operator Numericable, and has yet to decide whether it will bid for the French 3G mobile phone license.

Last month, the head of French telecoms regulator ARCEP said he expected the fourth 3G mobile phone license to be awarded in January of next year and at least two candidates would probably be in the running. The suggested price tag is set at 240 million euros, up from the 206 million announced by the government in February.

Virgin Mobile’s Philippe Maugest thinks the price is “relevant and fair,” and said they [Virgin Mobile] will take a decision on whether to bid for the license “once the tender is launched.”

Aside from Virgin Mobile, France’s number 2 broadband operator, Iliad, is also expected to compete for the license.

France’s current trio of operators include Orange, SFR and Bouygues Telecom, all which paid 619 million euros in 2001 and 2002 for their 3G frequencies.

[Via: Reuters]

Virgin Mobile Canada have gone ahead and released the Samsung Vice and LG Rumour 2. We all sort of knew this was coming, well, at least the Vice anyways, as it had shown up on the Virgin Mobile Live site some time ago.

The LG Rumour 2 is a refresh of the original with some handy changes. The overall look/feel has been changed up a bit, and a new QWERTY keyboard has been integrated which includes a directional pad and emoticon key. A 2″ 240×320 display, 1.3MP camera, Bluetooth, GPS, plus expandable memory to 12GB are all on-board. Look for the Virgin Mobile Canada Rumour 2 to sell for $49.99 on a 3-year contract, $99.99 on the 2-year, $129.99 on the 1-year… or prepaid for $129.99.

Check out the LG Rumour 2 at Virgin Mobile Canada.

The Samsung Vice comes with a similar feature set including full slider QWERTY keyboard action, 2MP camera with video, Bluetooth, GPS and expandable memory to 8GB. The Vice is coming in at $79.99 for the 3-year contract, $129.99 for the 2-year, $149.99 for 1-year or $149.99 for the prepaid option.

More on the Samsung Vice at Virgin Mobile Canada.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Virgin Mobile Canada has been launching devices fast and furious as of late. No doubt this is a result of the acquisition of Virgin by the folks at Bell. The latest device to come forward from is the Samsung Vice. Bell launched the Vice at $49.95 on a 3-year contract… We would expect the Virgin numbers to come in about the same, but as of yet no pricing details are available. The Samsung Vice is available via the Virgin Mobile Live website, but that’s as good as we’ve got for now.

The Virgin Mobile Samsung Vice will feature the full QWERTY keyboard (slider), 2MP camera with video, picture and video messaging, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack, GPS, MP3 player, and expandable memory to 8GB.

Stay tuned for more on the Virgin Mobile Samsung Vice. Pricing and launch details have to be just around the corner.

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Virgin Mobile U.S. has launched the Samsung Mantra, a remarkably unremarkable flip for $59.99. Bluetooth, voice dialing, texting, external LCD screen and a camera (presumably in the 1.3 megapixel range) are all a part of the simple Mantra. To be fair, some people just need a phone, without all those confusing doodads and thingamabobs that load down your average smartphone, and this is a fine option for them, especially for the casual user who could use the flexibility of a pay-as-you-go plan.

[via MarketWire]

Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) is joining the growing mobile broadband wave with introduction of its service called Broadband2Go. As it’s the case with their core offering, it’s a no-subscription service, requiring no long term commitment from users.

As part of the deal, Virgin will offer Novatel’s small EVDO Rev. A-enabled Ovation MC760 USB modem for $149.99, which will be exclusively sold in Best Buy Mobile stores, starting in late June.

Once you grab the modem, you’ll also need to buy some megabytes using the so called Top-Up cards. Virgin will offer an array of packages which start from $10 and include 100 MB of data that is good for up to 10 days. There are also $20, $40 and $60 packages. good for 30 days and which come with 250 MB, 600 MB and 1 GB of data, respectively… More information is available from Virgin Mobile USA’s website.

Virgin Media is the latest company to join Bebo’s Open Mobile program. Under the terms of the deal, the two companies [Virgin Media and Bebo] will deploy:

• Bebo Open Mobile Internet – customized version of the Bebo mobile site with Virgin Media navigation, support for mobile advertising and customized Virgin Media features. Virgin Media has also pre-loaded bookmarks and other Bebo services on Virgin Media mobile phones, so that Bebo mobile services are available immediately to phone buyers.
• Bebo Open Mobile Messaging – Virgin Media’s mobile customers can immediately receive alerts and updates through the 22326 (BEBO) short code. Using the short code, users can update their Bebo profile, participate in polls and interact with friends.

Commenting on the announcement, Virgin Media’s John Conlon said: “More and more of our customers are taking the Mobile internet with them and staying up-to-date and in touch with mobile social networking. Bebo Open Mobile allows us to offer all the great Bebo features in a simple and accessible way that makes sense for Virgin Media customers and we look forward to continuing to work with Bebo to bring new services and experiences to all consumers.”

Hopefully this is all some unfortunate error, but it may be the truth. Looks like Virgin Mobile Canada has bumped the price on the BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Pearl Flip 8230 to $249.99 on a 3-year term. This has got to be an error, as on Monday the device launched on Virgin for free on a 3-year contract.

One would think this is an ‘Oops’, but we’ll see. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about this one real soon. In the meantime you can keep an eye on the BlackBerry Pearl 8230 page over at Virgin Mobile Canada (as I punch this in the price is still sitting at $249.99 on the 3-year deal).

[Via: MobileSyrup]

Bell and Rogers are now getting back up to speed using the mobile social network Twitter the way it was meant to – by SMS. Relative newcomer Virgin Mobile and veteran Telus are also recently caught up, so now everyone in Canada can get their tweets out by texting 21212. It’s still a little boggling why the capabilities were locked down in the first place, considering carriers have a dedicated pipe for SMS that is unlikely to get clogged by excessive traffic. For those who want to get tweeting in Canada, keep in mind the standard texting charges apply, both inbound and outbound.