Virgin mobile just announced a new lower rate for its prepaid voice service in the US with unlimited nights and weekends that could accelerate the decline in monthly voice fees in the industry.

On April 8, 2009, the company announced that it would lower it monthly fee for unlimited voice service from $80 to just $50.

Clearly, there is aggressive price competition going on in the industry. Virgin Mobile, which has 5.4 million customers in the US, is joining MetroPCS, Boost Mobile and Leap Wireless, which offer unlimited, prepaid voice service for $35 to $50. Boost Mobile had just cut its prepaid service to $50 per month in January of this year.

In addition to the low monthly voice rate, the Virgin Mobile also offers a stand-alone unlimited text messaging plan for just $20.

The best part of all with these pre-paid plans is that there are no credit checks and no long-term commitment to the service. So, people with modest incomes can get access to wireless services, and adjust their service according to needs and resources. This is particularly helpful to people with disabilities, because on average they earn much less than people without disabilities.

Furthermore, the flexibility to have just voice or text messaging means that people who are either visually or hearing impaired (or who just prefer one type of service over the other) can buy just the service they can or want to use.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gRJI7SPSTa-PcaQObRSWmd2ZOjqAD97EN6JO3