Update: SkTelecom spokespeople have rejected claims stating that the carrier was looking to purchase Virgin Mobile in order to pump money into the MVNO and purchase Helio from itself.
The company has stated that the initial report by the Dow Jones and Reuters was groundless. The company has also confirmed that the South Korean carrier still remains committed to the Helio venture but added that it continues to look for ways to expand its presence in the US.
With talks taking place internally at T-Mobile for a possible acquisition of Sprint, there is speculation that two other companies are looking to merge. Helio and Virgin Mobile are also in the first stages of the ‘proposed’ deal.
With both being MVNOs, Helio’s merger with Virgin Mobile would create a larger customer base which would result in higher bulk purchases of wholesale service from Sprint as they both work off of Sprint’s CDMA network.
SK Telecom’s Helio and Virgin Mobile are both known for targeting the younger demographic. Helio’s customer base tends to spend more on their monthly service (average of $85) while Virgin Mobile’s customers average about $25 a month. The merger of the two companies would benefit each other as they will be able to combine the average and high end users. With Earthlink backing out of Helio and with both companies showing poor financial earnings, Virgin Mobile’s retail strategy can help Helio reach a wider audience.
“With talks between Sprint and T-Mobile taking place for a possible merger…”
Wow, thats a pretty bold statement there. Just because DT is possibly entertaining the idea that in no way implies that Sprint is on board at all.
The WSJ article states that T-Mobile is weighing a bid. Not even close to “talks are taking place for a merger.”
I don’t whether to be flattered or upset that my name is being infringed upon, wonder what will come of both talks and MetroPCS and Leap for that matter they were talking before the auction
haha yeah, i posted after you on another news item so i thought i would be creative…
Actually, there were rumors before(roughly March) about T-Mobile buying Sprint but now they are in talks.
Says who?
And those rumors in March were not rumors. it was an analyst’s opinion that it might be a good idea for T-Mobile to do that to avoid a price war.
Actually no. They were rumors before but now its a fact that tmobile is looking to buy sprint to increase their numbers as they launched 3g. And sprint is also thnking about it. Try to look up the news in more than one place. Ull be surprised. This article is accurate for both cases. Sprint has been approached but they haven’t given an answer to join the ‘table’ as yet!!
Can i get a source? That’s fine if it’s printed somewhere i just want to read it.
The article cites the following source:
http://www.moconews.net/entry/419-virgin-mobile-usa-in-merger-talks-with-helio-other-options-still-being-/