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Oct. 17, 2008

Virgin Mobile USA says it is reducing its international calling rates to certain markets, and that it’s not a limited-time promotion, contrary to some comments that would suggest it is.

Virgin Mobile added that the new rates are as low as two cents per minute and went into effect Oct. 16.

The two-cent rate applies to calls to Brazil and certain parts of Mexico, Venezuela, China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. The cost is five cents per minute to places such as Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Bangladesh, India, South Korea and Thailand.

Overall, international calls are charged at the international per-minute rate for the country being called, plus the standard airtime rate.

By comparison, international calling to Mexico with major carrier contract plans range from 39 to 49 cents per minute, Virgin Mobile said. The wireless carrier also pointed out that customers will no longer need to buy an international calling card or pay for a separate international calling service with another carrier.

Virgin Mobile is able to offer the lower rates simply because it renegotiated its own international calling rates, a company spokeswoman said. Mexico is the top country called by Virgin Mobile USA customers and the majority of customer calls are to Latin America, she said.

In November 2007, Virgin Mobile went public. The company says it will release its third-quarter results on Nov. 4.

Virgin Mobile users can also send a text message in Spanish and have it delivered as a Spanish voice message to a landline recipient, if that's what they wish, the company said.

Spanish text to landline messages can be sent in the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico. International texting also is offered at twenty cents to send a message and ten cents to receive a message in more than 170 countries worldwide.

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Source: MetroPCS.