Virgin Mobile launches in India, targets youth market

MUMBAI, India (AP) - Virgin Mobile launched new services in India Sunday, targeting the youth market in one of the world's fastest growing regions, the company said. Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson said the British company would offer music, entertainment and news on India's film industry, sports and stock markets to about 400 million young
Indians in the 15 to 30-year-old age group. The British billionaire said his company would launch Virgin Mobile handset services through Tata Teleservices Ltd, a top Indian mobile operator, in 50 cities initially, expanding to more than 1,000 cities by December.«India looks very, very promising. We need only a small percentage of the market to do well,» Branson told reporters at a news conference.Branson said the size of India's youth market was staggering. «It's six times the size of the U.K.'s population and we are bound to have lots of fun here,» he said. Branson did not divulge financial details, but said he hoped to attract a customer base of 5 million subscribers . India is a key mobile phone market, adding more than 6 million new connections every month with its economy growing at more than 8 percent annually.