Bell Mobility announced today that it is buying the 50 percent share of Virgin Mobile Canada that it does not already own. With the purchase will come an agreement to continue to use the Virgin Mobile brand in Canada.
“Bell Mobility’s acquisition of Virgin Mobile Canada supports our strategic imperative to Accelerate Wireless, a core component in Bell’s overall strategy to achieve our goal: To be recognized by customers as Canada’s leading communications company,” said George Cope, President and CEO of Bell and BCE.
Virgin Mobile Canada will continue to operate independently with its distinct branding and its own distribution channels but the two companies will benefit from some shared operational efficiencies in areas such as network infrastructure, handset acquisition and common distribution in high-traffic retail locations such as The Source.
The purchase is valued at CA$142 million.