Branson's music-to-airlines Virgin Group and unlisted Cell C will form a joint venture and use the Virgin Mobile brand operating as an independent service provider on the Cell C network, the companies said on late Wednesday.

The venture is expected to launch during the first half of 2006.

"Our partnership with Cell C will bring a new approach to the mobile market and will be a refreshing alternative from the bland offerings of other players," Virgin founder Richard Branson said.

In October, Branson said the joint venture with Saudi-backed Cell C would cost about 500 million rand to set up and that Virgin would probably price its services aggressively to undercut the big players, MTN and Vodacom.

Branson has long sought to enter the country's booming mobile phone industry by using the network of an existing operator.

Branson, who helped pioneer the concept of a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), said he also wanted to take on South Africa's financial services industry with a low-cost alternative he hoped to launch next year.

The Virgin Group has already broken into the South African health club market.

-Nampa-Reuters

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