Helio has officially opened for business. The mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a partnership between SK Telecom and Earthlink. Helio is aiming to bring Korean level mobile technology to the US market. The company hopes to have 3 million customers by 2009.
Helio is launching with two similarly featured handsets, the Pantech Hero and VK Mobile Kickflip. Both phones feature EV-DO and a 2-megapixel camera. An exclusive (at this time) partnership with MySpace lets you use most features of the popular social networking site right from a mobile handset.
Pricing for airtime runs surprisingly high, with the cheapest regular plan costing $85 a month for 1000 minutes. That price does include unlimited data access and messaging. An a la carte service is offered that doesn't have the extra features, but it still costs $40/monthly for 500 minutes of airtime.