Virgin Mobile India, a conglomerate of Virgin Group and Tata Teleservices has entered the mobile data services market with the launch of its vLink.

The vLink is a CDMA USB modem with a difference: apart from offering the user with regular mobile Internet in a stylish package, it also doubles up as a flash drive with a capacity of 1GB. All necessary drivers are preinstalled and one just has to plug in the drive and follow instructions to configure the modem.

“vLink comes with a starter kit... Which includes free unlimited promo data usage time of 30 days. We have launched two tariff plans — Rs 801 per month (for unlimited data usage) and Rs 349 per month (with a facility of balance roll over to next month),” Virgin Mobile India Chief Officer (Handset, VAS and Procurement) Deval Parikh said.

“vLink will offer instant connectivity on the move to the style conscious youth, be it students, professionals, SMBs or SOHOs. We have extended the functionality of a modem and clubbed it with data storage capability of up to 1 GB. It is a carry-along device that will allow users to access Internet anywhere as well as store their music, photos, videos, etc.,” said Madhusudan, CEO of Virgin Mobile India.

The second plan has a usage rate of 25p per minute between 0800 hours and 2200 hours and the rate is halved to 13p per minute when internet is used between 2200 hours and 0800 hours.

“In sync with Virgin Mobile's philosophy of offering flexibility to its consumers, the second plan of Rs. 349/- offers the user benefit of rolling over unused balance to the next month. This is the first unused balance roll over facility for data usage in the Indian market.” Added Parikh.