Virgin Mobile's warnings of a bleak quarter were pretty dead-on, with a mere 17,772 net adds coming on board during the three-month time frame ending March 31 -- not quite the blockbuster 309,721 reported in the same period a year ago. Similarly, revenue and income both took a dive, supposedly in part due to a big marketing push focused on the MVNO's new pricing plans. If there's a silver lining on the dark, rumbling cloud, though, it's that the CEO believes they'll start to see some positive growth again in the third quarter after a weak second (for his sake, we hope he's right). Also notable was a mention that although the company had no strategic partnerships, alliances, or investments to announce, it was definitely open to "non-organic growth" in the form of another MVNO or "capability." Wonder what he may have been talking about there?

[Via mocoNews]

Times haven't been so great at Helio, but it looks like the troubled MVNO could be snapped up by Virgin Mobile. mocoNews did a little digging after Virgin's recent Q1 conference call, and says that the two companies are currently in merger talks. Since both companies use Sprint's network, the tech would be compatible, and the deal would give SK Telecom a way to keep Helio going as it tries to gain a foothold in the US market. Nothing's set in stone yet and the two companies aren't talking, but we'll definitely keep an eye on this one.

Hold on to your seats, chaps -- Blyk has just surpassed that magical 100,000 subscriber mark in Britain that it's been aiming for ever since the company got off the ground last fall. For those curious as to why "just" 100k is a milestone worth celebrating, this particular MVNO -- which rents airtime from Orange and utilizes equipment from Nokia Siemens Networks -- issues its customers a free pool of minutes / text messages in exchange for them accepting advertisements. In other words, a totally ad-funded service is somehow managing to go over at least decently well. According to the outfit, it reached the aforesaid goal a full six months ahead of schedule and is currently seeing ad response rates of 29-percent. Kudos, Blyk -- way to quiet those naysayers.

[Via textually]

Owners of Helio devices equipped with the MVNO's "Ultimate Inbox" feature -- Ocean, Fin, Mysto owners, we're looking straight at you -- will find that they now have a fun little gem waiting for them. Gmail's now being touted as supporting push notifications right alongside Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL, and My Helio, but the real trick here is that Ultimate Inbox now supports push for any POP or IMAP account of your choosing. In other words, that "my bad, I haven't checked my email recently" excuse suddenly holds, like, zero weight if you own one of these devices. Sorry!

Apparently, laying off every single one of your employees at your US headquarters doesn't imply you're going out of business. Sonopia, the MVNO that allowed customers to roll their own mini-MVNOs, recently imploded -- but it turns out the company's still there, having maintained its customer base by purchasing minutes through a third-party wholesaler rather than from carriers directly. The remaining operations have retreated to Ukraine, where roughly half of its once 60-strong development staff remains; the CEO says that he's waiting for Americans to warm up to MVNOs to make his triumphant return, and in the meantime, the company is exploring European ventures. For what it's worth, he says they're not pursuing any additional venture capital beyond the $20 million they've raised already, though it's not clear whether that's because he doesn't feel they need any or because they don't stand a prayer of landing funding. On an interesting side node, he also chimed in on the state of other MVNOs currently trying to make a dent in the US market; he thinks value is where it's at, which is what seems to be making TracFone and Virgin Mobile so successful. On the other hand, he thinks Helio already had its chance to be successful; if it was going to be profitable, it'd be there by now, and at this point it's just a matter of how long its corporate parents are willing to cut it an allowance. Then again, do we really trust the opinion of a dude whose MVNO just failed?

Given that MVNOs have been dropping like flies for the past couple years and the fact that the whole business model is being called into question, it stands to reason that a company whose strategy revolves around allowing groups to create their own MVNOs would be on thin ice. Sure enough, the start-up shuttered its US operations in March, laid off all of its employees, transitioned subscribers to its partners, and has "practically ceased operations." At least they were kind enough to see to it that customers were shuttled off to more financially sound carriers before shutting off the switch, but sadly, it looks like that Engadget-branded carrier we've all been yearning to set up is going to have to wait just a little bit longer.

[Via mocoNews]

In light of the fact that the original Ocean's model number was OZ, it seems pretty obvious that an "OZ2" passing through the FCC by way of Pantech would be -- you guessed it -- the Ocean 2. It helps that the label diagram's depiction of the phone is clearly Ocean-esque in nature, too. So let's use this opportunity as a springboard for discussion: what does everyone hope to get out of the dual-sliding Helio Ocean's successor?

MVNO Virgin Mobile is taking a rather unusual approach to advertising its new plan features and pricing structures unveiled today, pointing out that they provide "smarter choices in a tough economy." For monthly plans, those "smarter choices" include unlimited nights and weekends starting at 7pm (well, we suppose weekends start at 12am, but you get what we mean) and unlimited messaging for a reasonable $10 monthly. Prepaid plans, meanwhile, are now offering the capability to "roll forward" up to 5,000 unused minutes when the account is re-upped within 30 days. Minute packs are now available in $20, $30, and $50 increments equaling 200, 400, and 1,000 minutes, respectively, knocking the per-minute price down to 5 cents at the highest level. The new goodies are all available immediately.

[Via Phone Scoop and MobileTechNews]

Back in the days of yore, the world was a simpler place. The Helio Ocean had just one browser -- its own -- and if you wanted Opera Mini instead, you got it the old-fashioned way: with hard, manual labor. Times are changing, though, and both Helio and the Ocean are changing with 'em. Opera Mini is now available as a direct download from Helio itself, a nod to the community's desire to have access to what is commonly considered the premier mobile web browser, and maybe -- just maybe -- an admission that Opera Mini is better than the Ocean's integrated app. Whatever the implications, it looks like hitting 67372 from your Ocean's home screen will get the show on the road.

Virgin Mobile's slowly (and we do mean slowly) moving into the 21st century with its ultra-cheap prepaid offerings; in the past they've frequently foregone features most of us consider standard like Bluetooth and external displays in an effort to keep the sticker shock to a minimum, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Virgin's getting close to being able to offer a circa-2008 feature set in 2008. Here we have the Flare courtesy of LG, a glossy lil' flip that serves up a color screen out front, Bluetooth, speakerphone, and mobile web access for a penny shy of $30 -- contract-free. The FCC filing (it's the LX175) reveals a lack of EV-DO, but seriously, what do you expect for the price?

[Thanks, Eric C.]

We'll be honest with you -- it's a bit disheartening to watch the (seemingly) inevitable happen to Helio. After all, it's managed to soldier on despite hordes of other MVNOs hanging it up here in the US of A. Nevertheless, data gleaned from EarthLink's most recent annual report shed some light on its deteriorating situation. Reportedly, Helio's net loss "widened by 41.3-percent to $326.6 million in 2007 compared to $191.8 million in 2006," yet revenues managed to grow 267-percent to $171 million from $46.6 million the year prior and subscriber growth rose 28-percent over last quarter to 180,000. Add those figures to the $42 or so million it lost in 2005, and we're up to a grand total just south of 560 million American dollars. Tough times, indeed.

[Via Silicon Alley Insider]

We certainly can't give Xero Mobile credit for launching any actual product -- because they haven't -- but we're all about giving credit where credit is due, and in Xero's case, we've gotta hand it to 'em for continuing the magnificent vaporware parade for as long as they have. It's now been nearly 14 months since the ad revenue-supported MVNO had originally claimed to be targeting a launch, and as far as we can tell, they're still doing something behind the scenes; that "something" may have absolutely nothing to do with actually launching, but hey, announcing partnerships and potential acquisitions must pay the bills, we suppose. Speaking of potential acquisitions, suitor ROK Entertainment has unceremoniously dropped its bid this week without giving any rhyme or reason, leading us to wonder where this leaves Xero's liquidity -- do they have enough money to continue trying to sell themselves, let alone launch an MVNO?

Back before there was Helio, there was Earthlink, South Korea's SKT, and a dream. Heliocity managed to score some shots of just what that dream looked like in the early days, a similar -- yet decidedly different -- vision than what the MVNO ended up bringing to market. Not only are the prerelease versions of Helio's first two models to market (the Kickflip and Hero) "SK Earthlink" branded, but check out that super trippy Kickflip proto, complete with aerial antenna and secondary LCD for self-portraits. The Ocean obviously came along further down the road, and while we like the all-black finish Helio decided on, we think the two-tone action here would've made for an interesting second choice. Read on for all the visuals.

It wasn't a pretty end for Amp'd Mobile, but even the hasty one-week extension of service, sale of customers to Prexar and asset liquidation wasn't enough to keep creditors at bay -- the bankrupt company is now suing after its former CEO for cash. Claiming that Peter Adderton "refused to perform certain aspects of his employment" and "threatened to take action that would damage" Amp'd, the lawsuit seeks some $1.15M in payments made. Amp'd is also going after some 20 other partners in similar suits, ranging from Merrill Lynch to law firm Latham and Watkins to Playboy and MTV. We're not sure how that's going to play out, but it looks like those rumors about the content team and properties like "Lil' Bush" being sold off are definitely true -- William Morris is in charge of shopping the group out to the highest bidder. All in all, it looks like Amp'd's creditors aren't being shy about getting their cash -- but what repo man ever is?

[Via mocoNews]

Alright, we'll definitely cop to having broken off a relationship or two via text message, but we don't think we've ever heard of a high-ranking executive discovering he'd been fired when his phone stopped working -- which is exactly what happened to Roy Kosuge, COO of Voce, that "luxury" MVNO. We'd heard rumors of Voce's demise, but it looks like ol' Roy wasn't so plugged in, only finding out that his company was dead when his phone stopped making calls. Of course, when a company's chief operating officer doesn't know that you're about to kill the lights, it's a safe bet that things are pretty screwed up, so if you were among the few who signed up for Voce's premium services, we'd recommend calling your credit card company immed -- oh, right. Sorry about that.