Last Thursday, we reported on a rumor that Helio/Virgin Mobile were discussing a possible merge.

SK Telecom’s claiming the rumors a bunch of nonsense. According to a spokesperson for the company, there had not been “any sort of talks” between Helio and Virgin, saying all rumors as such were “groundless” and that they remained “committed to Helio.” In the vaguest statement of the century, she also added that SK Telecom was actively seeking opportunities to expand in the US.

I’m still on the fence with this one, as I’m wary about anything that could potentially cause radical changes to the way Helio does their thing. On one hand, more users and a larger retail footprint is an awesome thing. On the other, I heart Helio.

SK Telecom has big ol’ pockets, with over 50% of Korean mobile customers being SKT subscribers. Their pockets are fat enough to keep Helio afloat as long as they need to to work things out. I’d be incredibly surprised if any of the opportunities they were seeking involved tossing the brand they’ve been working to build.

[Via mocoNews.net]

Over at MocoNews, word is that Helio and Virgin Mobile may be in talks of a merger. While it is safe to say this could be just a rumor as neither company has given an official stance on it, it would be pretty interesting if anything did come of it.

We’ll just have to wait this one out until we get some word from either company.

(Greg says: We’ve asked the people that might be in the know about this. While no one is willing to spill any details, no one is making any effort to deny it. As Matt Hickey from Crunchgear points out, the two companies could each bring something to the table that the other lacks: Virgin already has floorspace in a ton of outlets, but lacks any sort of high end offerings. Helio has far less retail penetration, but can bring high end products and services to the table. If it does go down, I just hope Helio keeps its own name; VirginMobileocity sounds whack.)