VIRGIN MOBILE USA BUYS HELIO

Here's some interesting mobile phone carrier news. According to Yahoo! News, Virgin Mobile USA has announced that it will buy Helio from SK Telecom and Earthlink for about $39 million. As part of the deal, SK Telecom will invest in the merger and acquire about 17 million Virgin Mobile USA shares. The terms of this agreement also state that SK Telecom will get two seats on Virgin Mobile's board. Once this deal is complete, Helio's customers and handset inventory will be turned over to Virgin Mobile USA. Virgin Mobile will also be able to offer post-paid accounts because they will gain access to Helio's post-paid billing systems. Both parties estimate that this deal will be complete by the third quarter of 2008.