Virgin Mobile USA, Inc. (NYSE: VM) launched its IPO right after the open today. Billionaire Richard Branson's pay-as-you-go cellular telecom services that uses the Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) network has raised $412.5 million based on 27,500,000 shares at $15.00 per share, which is actually at the lower end of the $15.00 to $17.00 range. Was the reception poor, or was it conservative?

The lead underwriter and book runner was Lehman Brothers, and joint book-runners were Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns. The over-allotment option for underwriters is listed as 4,125,000 shares. Not much has changed since the original coverage of the IPO at the filing date.

As of June 30, 2007, Virgin claimed 4.83 million customers. Revenues and net loss for the year ended December 31, 2006 were approximately $1.1 Billion and -$36.7 million; Revenues and net income for the six months ended June 30, 2007 were approximately $666.9 million and $26.5 million, respectively. As of June 30, 2007 and December 31, 2006, members' accumulated deficit was approximately $(614.4) million and $(643.9) million, respectively.

It seems as though the interest faded here, and part of it may be the entire venture status combined with a cellular market that is deemed as just about fully matured in the lower-end pricing plans. Shares did trade under the $15.00 pricing for a bit after the open, but are up to $15.40 at the 30-minute mark.

Jon C. Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter and he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Wall Street's equity market kicks into fifth gear this week with 8 IPOs and 6 Secondaries on the docket.

Those deals tentatively scheduled to price include:

IPOs:

Possible

• SP Acquisition (DSP), a 36M-share IPO for this business financing company. UBS Investment and Ladenburg Thalmann are the lead managers. Filing pricing: $10.00.

Midweek

• Mediatech Investment (MDTC), a 10M-share IPO for this business financing company. UBS Investment and JMP Securities are the lead managers. Filing range: $14.00-$16.00.

Over the past few months, there were lots of rumors that Virgin Mobile would file to go public. Well, it came true today.

The company provides wireless services targeted at the youth market (ages 14-34). The company is a joint venture between Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) and Virgin Group.

While Sprint provides the network infrastructure, Virgin focuses on the pizazz. This is known as the MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) model.

Virgin Mobile launched in July 2002 and now has 4.88 million customers. Last year, revenues topped $1.1 billion but there was still a net loss of $36.7 million. It helps that Virgin Mobile has extensive distribution with retail giants like Wal-Mart Stores (NYSE: WMT), Best Buy (NYSE: BBY), and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT).

Virgin Mobile's services include flexible plans, both flat per-minute rates and buckets of minutes purchased in advance. There are also stylish handsets and a myriad of entertainment applications (such as ringtones, picture messaging and games).

The lead underwriter on the IPO is Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) and the proposed ticker symbol is VM.

You can find the prospectus at the SEC web site.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.