Virgin Media Announces the Arrival of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 Smartphone

Unlimited Internet and email on the go available on select pay-monthly tariffs

London, UK - Virgin Media today announces the addition of the BlackBerry® CurveTM 8520 smartphone to its range of pay-monthly handsets. This is the first time BlackBerry® smartphones have been made available to Virgin customers in the UK.

With the BlackBerry Curve 8520, Virgin Customers can now have easy access to email, messaging (IM, SMS, MMS) and popular social networking sites including Facebook® and MySpace. The smartphone also features rich multimedia capabilities and easy access to music, games and other mobile apps for entertainment on the go.

Virgin Media is offering the BlackBerry Curve 8520 on a range of great value pay-monthly tariffs. All the available tariffs feature unlimited1 mobile Internet (including access to social networking sites) and unlimited email access to up to ten supported email accounts including Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail and Virgin Media.

The existing 10 million Virgin Media customers, who already enjoy services such as 50Mb broadband and TV, will receive extra unlimited calls2 to other Virgin Media mobile phones when taking up this offer.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a premium handset with an easy-to-use full-QWERTY keyboard and touch-sensitive trackpad as well as a two megapixel camera with video recording. The slim, Wi-Fi® enabled smartphone also features dedicated media keys, making it easy to control your music while on the move.

Virgin Media’s executive director of mobile, Graeme Oxby, said: “We are delighted to bring the popular BlackBerry brand to our ever-growing handset portfolio and believe it will be a big hit with our youthful audience. With our range of competitive tariffs, we aim to provide customers with the perfect tool for keeping in touch with their family and friends while on the go.”

“More and more cell phone users are choosing to upgrade to a smartphone and the new BlackBerry Curve 8520 will undoubtedly convince many more people in the UK to make the switch. It is very easy to use and it delivers all the great messaging, social networking and multimedia features that customers have come to love about BlackBerry smartphones,” said Carlo Chiarello, vice president, product management, Research In Motion.

For more information on Virgin Media products and services visit www.virginmedia.com

Media Contacts: *for more information, images and review samples please contact*:
Aviva Waks, 020 7404 3000, aviva@borkowski.co.uk
Emily Young, 020 7404 3000, emily@borkowski.co.uk

Notes
1 Unlimited data is subject to a fair use policy of 1GB a month. Unlimited Blackberry email is subject to a fair use policy of 25MB per day. UK use only. Other restrictions apply.

2 These calls are in addition to inclusive cross network minutes and are subject to a fair use limit of 3000 minutes per month. UK use only. Other restrictions apply.

About the tariffs

Virgin Media/Media customers 24 Months
Monthly Contract Cost £	Mins	Texts	Mail	Mobile Internet	Minutes to other Virgin Mobile phones
20	200	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
25	400	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
30	600	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
35	800	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD

Virgin Media/Media customers 18 Months
Monthly Contract Cost £	Mins	Texts	Mail	Mobile Internet	Minutes to other Virgin Mobile phones
25	200	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
30	400	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
35	600	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
40	800	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD

Virgin Media Standard 24 Months
Monthly Contract Cost £	Mins	Texts	Mail	Mobile Internet
20	200	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
25	400	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
30	600	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
35	800	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD

Virgin Media Standard 18 Months
Monthly Contract Cost £	Mins	Texts	Mail	Mobile Internet
25	200	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
30	400	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
35	600	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD
40	800	UNLTD	UNLTD	UNLTD

Competitor info table*
Network	Entry Price Point	Contract Length	Minutes	Texts	Data
Orange	£25	24 months	200	UNLTD	500MB
Vodafone	£25	24 months	200	UNLTD	UNLTD
Virgin Media	£20	24 months	200	UNLTD	UNLTD

• This is based on competitors’ tariff who are offering the same BlackBerry model as Virgin Media .

Pay Monthly is subject to UK credit check and payment by Direct Debit. Unlimited texts, web access, Blackberry email and Virgin mobile calls subject to fair use policies. UK use only. Standard minutes and texts are for UK calls to UK landlines (01, 02 03 numbers) and mobile networks. Virgin minutes are for UK calls to UK Virgin mobiles. Prices shown include VAT. Prices shown are for e-billing. If a paper bill is required then an additional £1.25 per month is payable.

About Virgin Media
With almost 10 million customers, Virgin Media is the UK's first quad-play provider of broadband, TV, phone and mobile.

The company is one of the largest residential broadband providers in the UK, using a unique fibre optic cable network to deliver next generation ultrafast internet access of up to 50Mb to just over half of all homes. Combined with a high speed ADSL service and mobile broadband products, Virgin Media is able to offer broadband internet access to virtually the entire country.

Virgin Media has the UK’s most advanced TV on demand service and is the only TV platform to carry BBC iPlayer. It is the second largest provider of pay TV, was the first to launch a high definition TV service and offers a high-specification, HD-ready V+ personal video recorder.

The company operates the most popular virtual mobile network in the UK which, when launched, was the world’s first such mobile phone service. It is also one of the largest fixed-line home phone providers in the country.

Virgin Media also owns Virgin Media Television (VMtv) which runs seven entertainment channels, including Virgin1, LIVING, Bravo and Challenge. VMtv is a 50 per cent joint partner with BBC Worldwide in UKTV, which consists of ten channels including Dave, G.O.L.D., Watch and Alibi.

Virgin Media Inc. is listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market and the London Stock Exchange (VMED).

For more information, go to www.virginmedia.com.

The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. RIM assumes no obligations or liability and makes no representation, warranty, endorsement or guarantee in relation to any aspect of any third party products or services.

rim.com