Virgin Mobile USA tweaks calling plans

Virgin Mobile USA Inc. is to unroll a set of new pricing plans that streamlines some of its pay-as-you-go offerings and enhances features included in monthly plans.
The move comes less than two weeks after the company’s stock was hammered for failing to meet Wall Street forecasts in the past quarter.
The mobile virtual network operator’s (MVNO) plans now feature discounted messaging packs for $10 that include unlimited text, e-mail, instant and picture messaging. Prior to the change, the $10 add-on feature only included text messages. The MVNO also boasted of nighttime calling starting at 7 p.m., but that was already included in most of the company’s lineup.
The company’s most significant changes relate to its $50 and $25 monthly plans. The $50 plan now includes unlimited nights and weekends, and the $25 features a bucket of 500 night and weekend minutes.
According to the company, the $25 plan is the only one in the industry that includes night and weekend minutes starting at 7 p.m.
Virgin Mobile also added “roll forward” minutes to its pay-as-you-go plans and increased its flat-rate price from 18 cents to 20 cents a minute.