Earthlink is stepping back from its investment in Helio, stating that they will not be putting any more money into the company.
At the same time, Earthlink’s joint venture partner in Helio, SK Telecom, has invested an additional $270 million and will likely take a majority share holding. According to an Infoworld report, Helio is expected to lose between $340 million and $360 million this year.
In a statement, Earthlink said that Helio ended August with 130,000 subscribers, and expects to end the year with between 200,000 and 250,000 subscribers and revenue of $140 – $170 million.
EarthLink said that it will amend the Helio partnership agreement “to reflect the additional investment by SK Telecom and their future governance of Helio.” SK Telecom said Helio may be able to raise funds from the market without drawing further investment from either partner.
Helio is one of the few large MVNO’s still standing after the spectacular failure of Amp’d Mobile in July and the failure of small MVNO’s from ESPN among others.