EarthLink posts loss of $3.18M

EarthLink's third quarter earnings posted with a loss of $3.18 million, because its MVNO joint venture with SK Telecom offset a slight 4.5 percent year-on-year rise in revenue. Like most MVNOs, Helio is bleeding and costing EarthLink increasingly more money each quarter, this time it was $26.2 million. Last quarter Earthlink revealed Helio cost it $13.3 million. The company has previously said it expects Helio's losses to be between $75 million and $85 million in all of 2006. Both SK Telecom and Earthlink committed $440 million to fund Helio, which recently began expanding its distribution and marketing efforts. Helio increased its distribution to 2,500 retail stores and launched a national television and print marketing plan recently.

For more on EarthLink's Q3 results:
- see this article from Telephony