Helio sees losses widen, users jump in 2007

SEOUL (Reuters) - Helio, the U.S. mobile telecoms venture of EarthLink Inc. (ELNK.O) and South Korea's SK Telecom Co., expects its net loss to widen sharply to up to $360 million this year despite a fast-growing user base, SK said on Wednesday.

Helio, which hopes to ramp up in the highly competitive U.S. market by going after young customers, expects to post $330 million-$360 million in 2007 net loss, compared with a $192 million shortfall in 2006, SK (017670.KS) said in a statement.

Sales are expected to jump to $140 million-$170 million this year from $47 million in 2006, as Helio aims to more than treble its subscriber base to up to 250,000 by end-2007, SK said.

Helio Chief Executive Sky Dayton said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday it expected to have 100,000 subscribers early in the second quarter, after ending 2006 with about 70,000.

Along with bigger operators which aim to win subscribers of all ages, privately held Amp'd Mobile and Virgin Mobile USA, a venture of Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) and British entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin VA.UL also compete with Helio for young customers.

Helio, which rents network space from Sprint, said on Tuesday its average monthly revenue per user has been well above that of its bigger rivals at $100, including $25 a month from services such as text messaging and Web surfing.