Rumors started surfacing of Virgin Mobile buying Helio recently, and the companies confirmed that today. Virgin Mobile is buying Helio from SK Telecom and Earthlink for $39 million worth of Virgin Mobile USA stock. The deal is set to close in Q3 2008, but Helio customers will mostly not be affected. Helio’s 170,000 customers will still have the same features they have now, just with more network coverage (from Virgin’s network). The Helio brand will gradually be phased out, but customers can still buy Helio phones, service, etc at this time.

Filed under: KABOOM, News, Phones, Technology, blargKABOOM