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Virgin name won't be used by NTL till next year

The NTL takeover of Virgin Mobile has gone through, and the plan will be for Virgin to be used as a brand by the joint company. "For the time being, however, they will continue to operate as separate organisations and brands, so there will be no change to the services or terms and conditions of either company’s customers," said NTL today.

"It is anticipated that the company will start marketing a single portfolio of services under the Virgin brand some time early in 2007, if not sooner," the official announcement today proclaimed. The text of the announcement had to tread carefully. It (naturally) made a big fuss about the Virgin brand image, and how good this would be for NTL:Telewest. That left the spokespeople dangerously close to the cliff of admitting that it was an image boost which NTL:Telewest badly needs.

Sir Richard Branson focused on the "creation of a unique organisation" and spoke enthusiastically about entering "a pioneering time, where the worlds of media, entertainment and communications are coming together."

But ntl:Telewest’s CEO Steve Burch teetered on the edge of admitting the problem when he described the deal as "a transformational deal for ntl:Telewest," and praised Virgin Mobile as having "a justified reputation for being one of the country’s most customer-focused companies."

The problem, of course, isn't just that NTL doesn't have a mobile phone business; it is the fact that the chaos of the early years of cable broadband in the UK has left both NTL and Telewest without that justified reputation for being customer focused.

Andrew Gow, MD of Virgin Mobile, came closest to clarity: "We’re looking forward to taking the experience, values, and attitude that have got us where we are today and applying them to the challenge of the future: of building with our new colleagues at ntl:Telewest a world-class, new Virgin company with the most exciting range of communications and entertainment services in the UK."

Full text of the official release is available online

The substantial information is financial: "NTL Incorporated (NASDAQ: NTLI), the holding company of the ntl: Telewest group, which now includes Virgin Mobile, today announced that having received all necessary court approvals, ntl: Telewest's acquisition of Virgin Mobile has completed and Virgin Mobile's shares have been de-listed from the London Stock Exchange."

The rest is "wait and see"...

Tags: Virgin, Virgin Mobile, NTL:Telewest, quadruple play