—Economic impacts: VMUSA’s net service revenue for the first nine months of 2008 was $900.2 million, dropping 4 percent from $933.5 million in the same period in 2007. Net service revenue for Q3 and the first nine months were impacted by the economy, as well as usage trends toward lower cost alternatives such as text messaging.

—Net income: Virgin Mobile USA’s net income for the quarter was $4.1 million, compared to a net loss of $7.4 million for the year-ago period. Net income for Q3 included minority interest expense of $4.4 million, which did not exist in the comparable period in 2007.

—ARPU and Churn: At the end of Q3, the company had 5.2 million customers, a 6 percent increase over the year-ago period reflecting the purchase of Helio. Churn in Q3 was 5.5 percent, compared with 4.9 percent in the same period in 2007. Average revenue per user (ARPU) in Q3 was $20.19, reflecting a 2 percent decline from the prior year’s third quarter and an increase of 5 percent sequentially. ARPU benefited from the launch of the hybrid plans and the new higher cost plans as well as the Helio acquisition.

—New products launched: In Q3, the company closed acquisition of Helio, launched the Shuttle, their first EV-DO phone with integrated Helio data services, and rolled out new service plans, and was able to increase hybrid customers to 47 percent of gross customer additions.

—Outlook: In Q4, the company expects net adds in the range of 60,000 to 100,000; net service revenues in the range of $310 - $320 million; adjusted EBITDA between $105 and $130 million, excluding about $15 million of one-time costs associated with Helio and the transition to IBM IT outsourcing. For the full year, adjusted earnings per share for the full year is expected to be between 3 cents and 7 cents a share, including the costs associated with Helio and IBM.