billso.com

Helio, the mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that tried to sell MySpace-branded handsets and service, has been purchased by Virgin Mobile. 

After EarthLink bailed out, SK Telecom pumped an additional US$270 million into Helio in a last-ditch effort to save the struggling business.

The Helio kiosks in Ala Moana Center never looked very busy. I’m not sure how many Helio subscribers signed up in Hawaii, but the nationwide numbers had gone down to 170,000, compared to Virgin Mobile’s 5 million. Young adults seem to carry T-Mobile’s Sidekick or a Verizon phone, although the iPhone may gain traction in a few weeks with its new low price. 

See this TechCrunch article titled Helio Hangs It Up for more details. 

Related articles and pages on billso.com

• iPhone
• 9 June 2008: iPhone 3G
• 13 April 2008: MySpace keeps trying to sell music downloads
• 29 September 2006: ESPN sacked, Helio scrambling

From BoingBoing, Memex, SaveTheInternet, TenPercent and TorrentFreak comes this story: Virgin Media’s new CEO, Neil Berkett, believes that net neutrality is “bollocks”. He wants to sell faster access on Virgin’s broadband network to the highest bidders - most likely large portals and advertisers.

Of course, Virgin Media could also use QoS (Quality of Service) protocols that are built into modern TCP/IP implementations to market a premium high speed service that would let subscribers get faster access to the entire Internet - for a price.

I discussed net neutrality in a billso.com post on 4 March 2008. It’s an important topic, especially as telecom firms and government look for new ways to squeeze more revenue out of subscribers.

There’s a long discussion thread at BoingBoing, with comments from several UK readers who want to break their Virgin Media contracts over this issue. Virgin Media is one of the largest providers of Internet broadband connectivity in the UK. It’s possible that the UK government will stop Virgin’s plans to shift almost all traffic to a lower priority.

Charlie Stross believes that Virgin Media, which used to be NTL/Telewest before a rebranding effort in 2007, is dropping packets for residential connections that use routers.

After the media attention regarding Phorm’s advertising cookies, which I discussed in a billso.com post on 9 April 2008, one would think that British telecoms would be a bit smarter than this.

UPDATED 20 May 2008: Kimberley Edwards has some additional comments in her 24 April 2008 article.