It's been awhile since we've heard any news about Virgin Mobile. That's changing today, but the news for Sprint's prepaid brand isn't good.
Sprint is killing off Virgin Mobile. Existing customers will be moved over to Boost Mobile starting in early February, and Sprint has told FierceWireless that most Virgin Mobile customers should be able to keep their current phone and get a comparable Boost Mobile plan.
“We regularly examine our plans to ensure that we’re offering the best services in line with our customer needs," a Sprint spokesperson explained. "Beginning on the week of Feb. 2, we will be moving Virgin Mobile customer accounts to our sister brand Boost Mobile — consolidating the brands under one cohesive, efficient and effective prepaid team."
Virgin Mobile has been around in the mobile industry for years, so it's kind of a big deal to see the brand going away now. At the same time, the move doesn't come as a huge surprise considering how little we've seen or heard from the prepaid brand lately.
Sprint tried to relaunch Virgin Mobile as an iPhone-only MVNO in late 2017, tempting iPhone owners to switch by offering one year of service for $1 and selling only iPhones for a period of time. That didn't work out for Virgin Mobile, though, and while Virgin does sell Android devices now, the lack of aggressive promotions paired with the shunning of Android users likely doomed it.
Did you ever use Virgin Mobile?
