Virgin Plans Mobile JV in China

Virgin Group chief Richard Branson said he has earmarked $300 million for a cellular phone joint venture in China, the world’s largest mobile market by users. Branson, whose mobile operations resell other carriers’ service under the Virgin brand, aims to have a 50-50 venture with a Chinese partner in operation in 12 to 18 months. “The Chinese market is obviously the fastest-growing market in the world. Virgin will be foolish if it is not a player in the market,” Branson told reporters.

Branson said he was in talks with “several companies” about a mobile phone venture in the mainland, but declined to name his potential partners in a country with more than 300 million cellular subscribers. “We would be certainly interested in 3G,” Branson said. Full Story Here.