Virgin Mobile to land iPhone 5 next Friday

Virgin Mobile iPhone 5

After months of speculation, Virgin Mobile announced it will finally start carrying Apple’s iPhone 5 starting Friday, June 28. The handset will be offered on a subsidy basis on a two-year contract and with one of the Beyond Talk plans, starting at $35 a month for unlimited 4G LTE data and messaging. Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint and supports both Sprint’s CDMA 3G and LTE 4G radio technology (see coverage map here)…

The entry-level 16GB iPhone 5 will cost $549.99 with a two year contract on a Beyond Talk plan. The 32/64GB iPhone 5 variants will be respectively priced at $649.99/$749.99. Virgin’s prices come in a $100 cheaper compared to Apple’s unlocked and contract-free iPhones.

This is yet another prepaid option for would-be buyers, with rival Cricket Wireless, AT&T’s GoPhone prepaid brand also offering Apple’s device, along with many regional U.S. carriers.

By comparison, T-Mobile currently offers the 16GB iPhone 5 for $580 contract-free, while Straight Talk values the device at $649, without a contract..

All Beyond Talk plans include 2.5GB/month of 3G/4G full speed data. And because Virgin is a prepaid carrier, all of their plans are no-contract.

Virgin Beyond Talk plans

Virgin says folks can receive a $5 monthly discount on their chosen plan provided they register and sign up for automatic monthly payments with a credit card, debit card or PayPal account.

The device will be available through Virgin Mobile’s website, at participating Virgin Mobile dealers and at its exclusive national retail distributor, RadioShack.

Virgin started offering prepaid iPhone 4S models last summer.

The carrier is currently running an interesting promotion which promises a fifteen percent discount on prepaid iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S models.