Helio sale to Virgin Mobile could happen this week?

Do you hear that, Helio? That [cue Sir Richard Branson's soothing voice] is the sound of inevitability. Rumors have been swirling for a few weeks now that SK Telecom -- Helio's majority owner -- is getting ready to cut, run, and offload its share to Virgin Mobile, rolling the scrappy MVNO into the one and only virtual network in the US that's been met with substantial, quantifiable success (more recent stock woes notwithstanding). Now, the Financial Times is reporting that a deal is cued up and ready for a public introduction as early as this week. The sooner, the better, because tons of questions remain about the fate of subscribers and the introduction of the pretty hotly anticipated Ocean 2, a device that at one time could've been Helio's savior; too late for that now, we guess.

[DefPo3t @ Jun 25th 2008 3:13AM]

Dear Cell Phone God,

Please let this come true. i recently lost my Helio mysto and was just gonna pay my termination fee and jump ship to at&t for a non-mentionable phone and coverage and i wouldn't mind saving the dough.

signed a hopeful poet

[MastrCake @ Jun 25th 2008 3:33AM]

That was poetry?

[DefPo3t @ Jun 25th 2008 6:10AM]

umm the name is D3fPo3t ie d3f + po3t or defpoet in normal spelling

[Alex Paris @ Jun 25th 2008 3:47PM]

::Cat hiss:: RAAAW ::swipe::

[Henry @ Jun 25th 2008 4:19AM]

Why, Helio? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more that your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it sustainability? Or more subscribers? Perhaps profit? Yes? No? Could it be for LTE? Illusions, Helio. Vagaries of perception. The temporary constructs of a feeble corporate board trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the MVNO model itself, although only a comittee could invent something as insipid as reselling someone else's network. You must be able to see it, Helio. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Helio? Why? Why do you persist?

[Allan @ Jun 25th 2008 8:08AM]

Just sticking around to hear what I can do with the remaining year on my contract...

Hope they're ready for a lot of terminations.

[Alex Paris @ Jun 25th 2008 3:56PM]

for real... iwana go get an iphone!

[hiko36 @ Jun 25th 2008 9:14AM]

I figured this was a crap post anyway soooo....



test

[LongsworthGL @ Jun 25th 2008 10:08AM]

it's been a wild ride Helio, but it's time we parted ways without an ETF...

[eseiber @ Jun 25th 2008 11:03AM]

I am sooo hoping they change things enough that those of us who are fed up with Helio can jump ship and swim over to At&t. Thsi company has done nothing but screw me over from month 3.

[bpm20000 @ Jun 25th 2008 12:11PM]

heres another hoping to jump on that ETF-free ship.

[KDubz @ Jun 25th 2008 12:28PM]

Please, Please let this happen and let me terminate my contract without the hefty ETF - hasn't my suffering with whack customer service and overcharges since my first month been enough payment?? If only I knew when I signed that 2 year contract what I know now . . .

[faith.omitted @ Jun 25th 2008 1:05PM]

It's happening. Stores closed yesterday, but everyone with Helio will still keep their service. I know this because I used to work for them (not anymore, obviously), and when they shipped out final paychecks, they included the "alumni" plan details, meaning Helio service will stay alive. I don't know anything about the OZ2 though; they wouldn't even tell us about the stores shutting down even as we packed up hundreds of phones into boxes to be shipped out.

[Alex Paris @ Jun 25th 2008 3:46PM]

not really saying i belive them or anything but ive been communicating with management @ Helio this week about some customer service issues, and i brought up the merger/takeover and they flat out denied it saying, "As for the media speculations and rumors of us merging is all media hear say and is not true. Business is as usual for Helio and we are growing rapidly and strong."

We'll see next week.