Virgin Helio merger looking more official

While there has been no official comment from either party, the rumors of a Virgin-Helio merger have heated up this week. The Financial Times posted a report last night which suggested that the deal was agreed to in principle, and that an announcement could come this week. It has since been picked up by a number of other reputable sources, including Reuters. From the looks of it, Virgin will absorb Helio brand. Everything will be Virgin Mobile USA.

In addition, Virgin will issue new shares of stock, which will give SK Telecom about 20 percent of the company. This, though, will come with an additional investment by SK in Virgin Mobile.

Virgin’s acquisition of Helio’s 200,000 customers won’t do much to move it close to the big boys, but it does give them subscribers of a different demographic than its normal. Perhaps these customers, used to contracts and higher monthly rates, will be attracted to Virgin’s new unlimited calling plan.

Financial Times speculates that this move could lead Virgin to contract territory. With the unlimited prepaid announcement, I’m not so sure that’s the case. But I suppose we’ll have to wait for the official announcement to find out for sure.

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