Virgin Mobile USA is officially shuttering its postpaid service, Helio. The move isn't particularly surprising, considering Sprint Nextel is Virgin Mobile's parent company.
Helio was acquired by Virgin Mobile in June of 2008 for $39 million in stock. A year later, Sprint acquired Virgin Mobile, making the Helio service rather redundant given its relatively small size in comparison to Sprint's service.
According to a spokeswoman for the company, Helio will close its doors on May 25. Customers with existing contracts will be encouraged to stay in the family. Virgin Mobile will offer Helio customers $50 towards a new phone with Sprint Nextel. That's on top of the $150 Sprint already offers new customers. Activation fees will also be waived.
Virgin Mobile will continue to concentrate on its prepaid division. Just today the company released a new tier of data plans, offering a competitive $60 per month 5GB no-contract option.
Under a voluntary program in effect now, participating companies pledge to protect the privacy of their users and minimize the impact of government restrictions on freedom of expression. Google, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. established the program in October 2008. But Durbin complained Tuesday that no companies have joined since then.