Sprint is buying out Virgin Mobile USA for $420 million, reports the NY Times. Virgin Mobile is a Mobile Virtual Operator, re-selling Sprint service under its own brand, without a contract. Virgin Mobile’s biggest investor is the billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.

Sprint gains 5.25 million users from Virgin Mobile, expanding Sprint’s prepaid penetration. Pre-paid service is growing amid the recession but the average monthly bill for Virgin Mobile is only about $31/month, about half what Sprint’s contract customers pay. Sprint will continue to offer services under the Virgin Mobile USA brand.

Sprint had 4.3 million prepaid subscribers through Boost Mobile, most of which were on the network obtained from Nextel. Boost Mobile’s flat-rate $50/month prepaid plan offers unlimited nationwide talk, text and multimedia messaging, wireless Web access and nationwide Walkie-Talkie for $50/month. Boost Mobile now offers their $50/mo prepaid unlimited service to customers on Sprint’s CDMA wireless network. Previously, Boost offered the $50 plan only to customers using the Nextel network, which uses different technology than the Sprint side. The cheaper offering was designed to spur growth and fill extra network capacity on Nextel.

Boost Mobile differs from Virgin Mobile in that Virgin offers a pay-as-you-go mobile broadband service using EVDO-Rev A data services. After buying a USB 3G modem, sold at Best Buy for $150, Virgin sells pre-paid broadband. It’s available in lots of 100 MB over 10 days ($10), while $20, $40, and $60 will get you 250 MB, 600 MB, and 1 GB over 30 days. No overage fees.

Most cellular carriers charge $60 per month and cap service at 5 GB per month, but require a 2-year commitment. Sprint’s Clear unit, by contrast, provides $30, $40 and $50 month service, delivering up to 6 Mbps with unlimited service.

MVNOs are not licensed radio frequency holders and do not have their own infrastructure. They lease spectrum and facilities from large carriers like AT&T, Verizon or Sprint.

Perhaps Sprint will eventually combine Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, although no hint of such a plan was made by the companies.

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