Virgin Mobile goes 'down under'

Virgin has announced a partnership with Cable & Wireless Optus today to launch an Australian mobile phone company.

'Virgin Mobile' Australia follows three months after Richard Branson's lable launched its own mobile business in the UK with One2One and will be Australia's first virtual network operator.

Sir Richard Branson, chairman and founder of Virgin Group, said in a statement that the move is part of their strategy to export the Virgin brand into key telecoms and Internet markets around the globe.

Cable & Wireless Optus is one of the earliest developers of Internet-enabled phones in Australia. In the UK, Virgin Mobile announced earlier this month its intention to become the world's first mobile company to offer all its customers Internet access from any handset.

The Virgin Group has also declared its bid for the UK's third generation UMTS licences auctioned in March.