We lost the excellent Virgin America airline a few years back, and the virtual cellular network that owes its name to Sir Richard Branson may soon be on its way out too. Sprint announced today that it’s going to be shutting down Virgin Mobile USA starting on February 2nd, transferring existing customers to Boost Mobile instead.

Apparently, the brand will go back to its original owner, Virgin Group, which is trying to decide whether it wants to relaunch a new iteration of Virgin Mobile in the US.

Here’s how a Virgin Mobile rep explained it to us:

As part of the remedy process laid out by the Department of Justice for the merger of Sprint and T Mobile, Sprint is transferring its pre-pay mobile brands to Dish. To facilitate this move Virgin Group has agreed with Sprint to transfer existing Virgin Mobile US customers to the Boost brand ahead of the sale to Dish. Following the transfer, Virgin will take back the Virgin Mobile brand for the US. We are delighted that after a period of uncertainty caused by the protracted merger discussions, we have control of our valuable brand once again and will now work on options to relaunch a modern mobile offer in the US.

That doesn’t mean anything except that Virgin is weighing its options: a spokeperson tells us the company will “spend some time assessing the US mobile market opportunity and start talking to interested parties about potential partnerships in due course.”

And by that time, all of Virgin Mobile USA’s existing customers will be gone.

An FAQ on Virgin Mobile USA’s website doesn’t specify a particular date the shutdown will be complete, but does say that customers can get a head start on the transfer to Boost if they want. It’s possible you won’t notice much of a difference. A Sprint spokesperson told FierceWireless that customers will be able to keep the same phone and keep paying the same price, and you’ll still technically be on the same Sprint network.

That said, you may need to change how you pay for Boost Mobile, as the company says it won’t be supporting PayPal accounts or 45/90 Day top-ups.

This isn’t the end of Virgin Mobile, either way. While its Australian counterpart (run by Optus) is also currently being phased out, it’s still a cellular brand in Sir Richard Branson’s native UK. But these days, Branson has his sights set a bit higher than cellular.

We wouldn’t be surprised if the next “Virgin Mobile USA” is simply a name slapped onto an existing MNVO to give it a bit more prestige, the same way that Boost is about to be slapped onto Virgin, and how both Boost and Virgin are basically just Sprint anyhow.

Update, January 8th at 3:22 PM ET: Added that Virgin Group will take back the rights to Virgin Mobile USA, and is deciding if it wants to potentially launch it once again.