Virgin Mobile to buy Helio for $39M

NEW YORK -- Virgin Mobile USA will buy Helio, a struggling cellphone carrier that was founded to bring the advanced features of South Korean phones to the U.S. market.

At the same time, Virgin Group and SK Telecom, the South Korean carrier that is majority owner of Helio, will each invest $25 million in Virgin Mobile. That will give SK Telecom a 17% stake in Virgin Mobile.

Virgin Mobile indicated that it will keep operating Helio's advanced data services and its customer-service plans.

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Virgin Mobile had 5.1 million customers at the end of March, making it one of the largest U.S. "mobile virtual network operators," or MVNOs. Rather than owning their own networks, MVNOs buy wholesale airtime from other carriers.