After securing a U.S. $26.5 million in new equity funding to develop its regional business, Virgin Mobile Latin America (VMLA) launched its operations as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Chile yesterday (April 10) . The founder of Virgin Group, Richard Branson, went to Santiago, the country’s capital, for the Virgin Mobile Chile launch.
Chile inaugurates VMLA operations in the Latin American region. The launch has been expected since last October, when VMLA announced that Chile would be the first Latin American country to receive its MVNO services. The UK-based Virgin Group plans to launch operations in 7 other markets, including Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, by packaging products specifically to meet the needs of the youth market.
Virgin offers pre-paid data, voice, SMS and MMS services and is targeting the youth segment by offering additional benefits such as access to discounts on brand products, and concert and event tickets. Virgin’s basic data packages grant 30MB of data usage for  U.S.$3.68 (CLP1,800), 15 minutes of calls across all networks for U.S.$3.08 (CLP1,500), 15 SMS for U.S.$1.02 (CLP500) and 20 MMS for U.S.$2.04 (CLP1,000).
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VMLA aims to offer new products and services to more than 450 million consumers across Latin America under the global Virgin brand, which now has more than 15 million customers worldwide. The company has been working throughout the region in cooperation with local partners, regulators and mobile network operators (MNOs). The company has signed with Telefónica’s Movistar to operate in Chile and in Colombia.
To launch the Chilean MVNO, Virgin Mobile unveiled some hilarious videos. Check them out:
