We only wish would could say that we are shock to hear this news, but most people were not. The deal to aquire Helio was something that was just a matter of time more than anything else. Virgin Mobile aquires the Helio from SK Telecom and Earthlink for exactly 39M in Virgin Mobile USA stock. The deal is expected to be completed sometime in the third quarter of 2008. "The good news is that it while the Helio brand will be phased out, Virgin Mobile isn't just in this for the 170,000-ish subscribers it'll be picking up. They plan to leverage Helio's technology and content offerings, not to mention the willingness of its customers to pay a few extra bucks for the perks, to build the Virgin Mobile brand into new spaces -- spaces which hopefully prove profitable and Ocean 2-ey."

Source: BGR