Virgin authorized to launch MVNO in Mexico

Virgin Mobile Latin America has received regulatory approval from Mexico's Ministry of Communications and Transportation to launch mobile services in Mexico. The announcement was made by Mony de Swaan, head of Mexico's telecom regulator Cofetel, on his Twitter account. Virgin plans to launch its MVNO business in Mexico in about six months after it completes a wholesale agreement with one of Mexico's mobile network operators, RCR Wireless reports. The next step is to start negotiations with the operators, which might proceed at a quicker pace, Virgin Mobile Latin America said. Back in June, Virgin announced plans to launch an MVNO service in Latin America in partnership with Tribe Mobile. In October, Virgin Mobile signed an agreement with Movistar in Chile to launch MVNO services in the first quarter of 2012. No network partner had been chosen yet in Mexico, Nick Fox, public director for Virgin Group, said in an interview with Reuters. However, Fox expects Chile to be the first country in the region where Virgin will launch its MVNO business in the first half of 2012. "We are looking at a number of major markets in Latin America," Fox said.