Sky Dayton—who previously founded a little ISP called Earthlink and Wi-Fi hotspot operator Boingo—is stepping down as CEO of the youth-oriented MVNO Helio to become a the non-executive chairman of the company’s board. Helio’s new CEO will be former president and COO Wonhee Sull.
As chair, Dayton will replace Jinwoo So, SK Telecom’s president of global business.
“Helio has reached a point in its development where I feel the timing is right for this change,” said Dayton, in a statement. “I will step into a new role as chairman and Wonhee will become CEO, utilizing his strong operational, product and service experience to manage Helio’s day-to-day operations. As we have for the past three years, the two of us will continue to define Helio’s direction and future.”
Helio is a joint venture between Earthlink and South Korea’s SK Telecom; the service is based on bringing high-end phones from South Korea to the U.S. market. Helio currently claims “nearly” 200,000 subscribers who pay an average of $85/month for mobile services. Helip operates as a mobile virtual network operator—MVNO—on Sprint’s cellular network.
