Virgin Mobile USA has reported a net income of USD3.5 million for the second quarter to 30 June 2008, down from USD7.1 million in the same quarter last year. Total operating revenue for the quarter fell to USD317.4 million from USD327.6 million twelve months previously. Operating income was USD20 million, down from USD21 million, while adjusted EBITDA stood at USD32.3 million up from USD31.2 million, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 11.1% up from 10.1%.

For the three months ended 30 June Virgin reported gross subscriber additions of 728,370, a drop from the 785,326 added in the same period twelve months previously. Churn was reduced to 5.6% from 5.7% year-on-year. The operator ended the quarter with 4.99 million customers, up from 4.83 million at the end of June 2007, but down from 5.1 million at the end of 1Q 2008. Monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) was USD19.32, down 7.9% from USD20.97 twelve months earlier.

During the quarter Virgin announced an agreement to acquire smaller rival Helio from SK Telecom and EarthLink. A spokesperson said, ‘The acquisition of Helio offers an excellent opportunity to expand our addressable market into post-paid and significantly increase the value we can provide our customers through new data services and feature-rich handsets’. The deal should be closed in the third quarter and Virgin Group and SK Telecom will each invest USD25 million of equity capital in the company. The USD50 million will be used to pay down a portion of the company's third-party debt

Source:telegeography