Virgin Mobile US completes Helio buy-out

170,000 customers facing changes


26 August 2008 15:32 GMT / By Katie Scott

Helio - the ailing US mobile arm of South Korea's SK Telecom - has finally completed its buy-out deal with Virgin Mobile US.

A $39 million offer was made in June for the "mobile virtual network operator", which has consistently suffered from poor results since its launch in 2005.

By the middle of 2006, the company was doing better with ploys including its their "buddy beacon" GPS friend-tracking application and Ocean messaging phone, but it still failed to compete with the biggies in the market, and eventually faced either closure or a buy-out.

Virgin Mobile will now take over Helio's 170,000 customers, but we don't yet know whether the Helio's brand and services will continue.
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Biz, Virgin Mobile, Helio, Phones, Mobile phones, Mobile phone industry

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