Posted on: Friday, June 15, 2001

Sprint deal with Virgin Group a step closer to global network

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sprint PCS confirmed yesterday that it is talking with the Virgin Group about a joint venture to bring the London-based company's mobile phone service to the United States.

The companies have agreed on certain preliminary matters, but there are no assurances that any transaction will be completed, Sprint officials said yesterday.

An industry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday that Virgin and Sprint had already signed a memorandum of understanding on a Virgin-branded joint venture valued at about $1 billion.

A retail partner to sell the services had not been found as of Monday, the source said.

Virgin Group owns the airline Virgin Atlantic Airways, a British train service and a chain of music stores. The company entered the mobile phone business in November 1999 and has similar mobile ventures in Britain, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.

The new deal would bring the group closer to its goal of running a worldwide "virtual" mobile phone network, in which it uses existing mobile phone networks to run its own service.