Virgin to make some landline-to-mobile calls free

Virgin Media is to be the first UK phone operator to let its customers make free calls from their landlines to some handsets.

From 1 April, all Virgin's four million home phone customers will be able to call any Virgin Mobile handset without charge, mirroring the free mobile-to-landline calls that are included in the company's mobile tariffs.

"At a time when other providers seem keen on giving their customers less from their phone service, we are extremely proud to be leading the way in this field, being the first to offer free home phone to mobile calls," Virgin Media mobile chief Graeme Oxby said in an announcement statement on Monday.

Virgin Media offers four branches of service to its customers: landline, mobile, broadband and television. According to the company, 10 percent of its landline customers subscribe to the 'quad-play' package of all four services.

Rival providers such as BSkyB and TalkTalk offer similar packages, and the regulator Ofcom said in September 2009 that it would also let BT bundle landline, broadband and digital TV services.

Virgin Mobile is a so-called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), in that it does not operate its own network, but resells connectivity from its supplier, T-Mobile.