SK Telecom, Virgin Mobile in Talks Over Helio, Other U.S. Assets

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 14, 2008 - 9:28am.

Atlanta - According to published reports on Wednesday, South Korea-based SK Telecom and Virgin Mobile USA are in strategic negotiations regarding Helio, SK's wireless services joint venture with EarthLink, as well as other business assets in the U.S.

The nature of the negotiations have not been disclosed -- whether Virgin Mobile might buy Helio, or SK might buy Virgin and combine it with Helio, according to a Dow Jones report.

Virgin Mobile has about 5 million wireless customers in the U.S., while Helio currently has around 70,000.

http://www.virginmobileusa.com

http://www.helio.com

Published in DMW Daily, May 14, 2008

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Comments

Cheap Marketing Gimmicks Can Kill A Company - Just Ask Helio

Submitted by Sensible Marketing Guy (not verified) on May 14, 2008 - 1:44pm.

I’ve always admired Helio for their no-nonsense approach to marketing. In fact, when they launched in October 2005, Helio and Sky Dayton promised to “End Confusing Rate Plans and Cheap Gimmicks.” Apparently something went terribly wrong. I wrote a blog post about their latest “near bait and switch” marketing ploy. SK Telecom may never give up on Helio, but I have. http://blog.sensiblemarketing.biz/cheap-marketing-gimmicks-at-helio/