TK Insight

Case Study: Failure of SK Telecom's Helio with MVNO in the U.S.

As Virgin Mobile, an MVNO operator in the U.S. recently decided to terminate its service for Helio subscribers, thus Helio is officially dead. Helio, which began its service in May 2006 as a joint venture between SK Telecom and EarthLink, was disposed to Virgin Mobile in June 2008.

First MVNO May Come Out in September

Starting in September, new mobile carriers may enter the Korean telecom market without having to heavily invest in building their own networks thanks to a bill passed in February at the National Assembly allowing non-telecom companies to borrow existing networks.

Following the current three operators, SK Telecom, KT and LG Telecom, the government is expecting that the emergence of new mobile operators, or mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), will trigger price competition in the mobile communication market.