Virgin Mobile promises unemployment insurance

The company said that it would begin equipping its US$49.99 monthly mobile plan with a 'pink slip protection' clause.

The new program will allow customers to miss up to three months of payments while looking for work.

With customers unsure about long-term investments in the face of the economic crisis and ballooning unemployment, vendors have begun adopting new programmes which allow for an out should the customer end up out a job.

The plan is similar to programmes offered by several US automakers which allow customers to return cars without penalties if they lose their jobs and cannot make payments.

"With the unemployment rate rising, the fear of job loss or salary reductions have made consumers watch every dollar," said Virgin Mobile USA charmain Dan Schulman.

"These issues tend to impact our prepaid base more than many wireless users, so we hope this program can offer some peace of mind to our customers."

There is no word on whether the plan will come to Australia.