27th June 2008, 10:54 AM   by Eric M. Zeman

Today Virgin Mobile USA announced that it will buy Helio from SK Telecom and Earthlink for about $39 million. In return, SK Telecom will invest in Virgin Mobile USA and acquire about 17 million shares of Virgin Mobile USA, as well as two seats on its board. Virgin will acquire Helio's customers, handset inventory, and will have access to its post-paid billing systems, allowing Virgin Mobile USA to begin offering post-paid accounts. Virgin also expects that it will be able to negotiate better rates with its network operator partner Sprint, and will explore how to best offer Helio's content and other services to its existing customer base. The companies expect the deal to close during the third quarter of 2008.

from Virgin Mobile USA