US MVNO Helio is already well on track to reducing its cost base by 70 percent as part of its planned merger with Virgin Mobile, the two companies revealed this week. Helio is planning to reduce its staff by two-thirds and close almost all of its retail outlets. According to a report by RCR Wireless, the MVNO has closed down all its five stores in the US within the last month with the exception of its New York branch, while its number of employees is set to be reduced from 570 to 200. However, it remains unclear if the Helio brand will be continued once the merger is complete.

During its second-quarter results conference call this week, Virgin Mobile USA CEO Dan Schulman said he hoped to close the deal in the next few weeks. “The Helio acquisition is transformative for us. The addition of a post-paid platform, outstanding data services, and compelling handsets will enable us to offer more value to our entire customer base; prepaid, hybrid and post-paid alike,” he said. Under the terms of the deal, around 170,000 Helio customers will transfer to Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile announced in June it is to pay US$39 million in stock to acquire the business from South Korea’s SK Telecom and Earthlink, a US ISP.