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Virgin Mobile USA has announced the completion of the Helio acquisition. The deal, which was officially announced back towards the end of June was completed for the expected $39 million and has removed ownership from SK Telecom and Earthlink.

The $39 million payment for the acquisition was not in cash, but instead was 13 million shares of Virgin Mobile USA common stock. Also, and in addition to the received stock, the transaction included SK Telecom and UK based venture capital company Virgin Group each investing $25 million into Virgin Mobile USA for which they will receive preferred stock. Finally SK Telecom was also offered two board of director seats on the Virgin Mobile USA board.

Via [Mobile Burn]

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• Helio Ocean 2, first clear images released

A screenshot from a no longer available YouTube video is all that we have left, but its a pretty decent image, as far as leaked images are concerned. Sadly there were few details mentioned and what we can go by is really nothing more than this one screenshot.

Keep in mind, that this is a follow up to the original Ocean, and we cannot really expect a dramatic overall change. However this one does appear to have a cool style as the Helio logo up towards the top seems to be backlit. Otherwise it has what appears to be a touch sensitive D-pad.

Of course with the recent trouble that Helio has been seeing, you have to wonder whether the Ocean 2 will really see the light of day.

Via [CrunchGear]

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It is looking like Helio customers may soon be making their monthly payments to Virgin Mobile. Recent reports coming from a Helio “tipster” are claiming that we can expect to see some of their corporate stores and kiosks begin to close very soon.

It has also been mentioned that Helio and Virgin were looking towards a merger, but it seems that Virgin has backed out of those talks and the merger will not be happening. At least not without some drastic changes first. Those changes are said to be that Helio either considers a bankruptcy claim or a major liquidation. Which seems to fit nicely in line with those stores beginning to close.

Helio, while maybe not offering the widest selection of handsets does at least have a solid group. I would imagine that the customers main change would be who they write their checks to, but I would also hate to see the current selection of Helio handsets to go away, the Ocean for one is a nice, full featured phone at an affordable price. Either way it does not look good for those in the MVNO business, its also pretty safe to say that SK Telecom made a big mistake when they took the controlling stake in Helio.

Via [Gizmodo]

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Niche cell service Helio has amassed a fantastic $560 billion dollars in debt over the last three years. Helio, which is co-owned by Earthlink and SK Telecom was created to bring many of the cellphone features that Asian customers enjoy to the US. Losses have increased steadily over the three years with an understandable $47 million in losses in 2005, a worriesome $192 million in 2006 and finally a downright staggering $327 million in 2007.

There is some good news for the Helio faithful. Sales actually outpaced looses in 2007 with losses increasing at 70% and revenue jumping 264%. There is also the fact there is serious restructuring going on at corporate headquarters as well as dropping prices on phones and services which is bound to help. Regardless of these positives majority owner SK Telecom might look at unloading their stake soon.

Read [Silicon Alley Insider]

• Virgin Mobile USA finalizes Helio acquisition
• Someone likes Sprint?  SK said to be in purchase talks
• Helio Ocean 2, still coming in 2009

Its hard to forget the death of Amp’d Mobile, it seemed like a drawn out death that came to a slow end. Eventually they did close their doors and the remaining customers were then sold to Prexar. You would have thought Amp’d was over, but it turns out the sale was not enough to cover their debts and who better to go after than the previous CEO and partners. The now closed and bankrupted company Amp’d has decided to sue former CEO Peter Adderton because he “refused to perform certain aspects of his employment” and “threatened to take action that would damage” the company. The lawsuit is seeking $1.15 million in payments made. Other than the former CEO, Amp’d is also looking to reclaim some of those lost funds from other groups to include Merrill Lynch & Co., GE Capital Financial, Latham & Watkins LLP, MTV Networks on Campus and Playboy Enterprises International.

Via [mocoNews]

• Will Helio be the next MVNO to join the dead pool?
• Live image of the Helio Ocean 2
• Virgin Mobile USA finalizes Helio acquisition