Airline and cola entrepreneur Richard Branson says he's in talks with Telstra and Sprint about launching Virgin Mobile in the United States.
Virgin Group boss Richard Branson outlined the plan to take his mobile phone operation into the US, saying he was talking with at least three operators about a joint venture.
He said he was in talks with companies, including US long-distance operators Sprint and AT&T and Telstra about launching Virgin Mobile in the United States.
"There's a lot of enthusiasm from the companies to use Virgin as a consumer brand," he said in an interview with Reuters Television.
But Virgin has found in the past that its brand-name does not necessarily buy it success in the United States. It had a hard time launching Virgin Cola there, and it will be competing with six major nationwide mobile telecoms brands.
Virgin Mobile is a "virtual" operator that sells services under its own name but uses capacity on other companies' networks, such as One 2 One in the UK.
It has expanded from the UK into Australia, where its partner is C&W Optus, and into Asia with Singapore Telecommunications.
Branson said a US move would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The partner would supply the network, while Virgin would offer a brand that is attractive to consumers.
"We're bringing a brand that is hopefully one of the better respected in the world," he said outside a telecoms conference in Cannes, France.
The US venture would also draw on the experience of his V-Shops in the UK, which sell mobile phones alongside CDs and videos. Branson said the UK operation was halfway to profitability, with 750,000 of the 1.5 million customers it needs.
"Once we have 1.5 million people subscribing the actual phone company will be profitable." He has no intention of floating the company at the moment.
"We have no specific plans for taking the mobile phone company public. At some point it's possible. If our partner wanted us to go the market I've always made it clear that I'd never get in the way."
