Virgin Mobile is currently working on an aquisition of prepaid provider Helio. Most likely this acquisition will lead to Virgin Mobile offering a wider range of products and services including contract based plans (in additon to pay-per-minute) and FINALLY some decent phones such as the Helio Ocean.
This is great news for any current Virgin Mobile customer. My major complain with Virgin Mobile has always been their lackluster phones, but with the aquistion of Helio, there will be an amazing new range of phones and plans that could make even me happy!
Only time will tell what really happens with the acquisition of Helio. A friend working with VM in the Dallas call center tells me that their internal system has a detailed announcement in which they blatantly state that they will offer contract plans and helio devices after the acquisition is through.
Link:
Official Announcement