Sprint Nextel (S), which has been bleeding valuable contract wireless customers for well over a year now, continues trying to find a leadership position -- any leadership position -- and it is banking (again) on the growth in prepaid wireless to salvage its future. After it's acquisition of Virgin Mobile earlier this year, the company is set to introduce a $25 "Beyond Voice" that will give prepaid customers 300 minutes and all the messaging and data they can eat.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (S) has found a winner for almost a year in its Boost Mobile prepaid wireless brand. For Sprint, this has been a savior. The company has been leeching valuable contract wireless customers to the competition and it was hurt badly in 2009 because of this.

At the same time, it has gained more prepaid wireless subscribers than any other carrier, and added large partner Virgin Mobile late last year to solidify its strategy in growing prepaid wireless as a large core of its customer base. It was probably the only thing to do -- both AT&T Inc. (T) and Verizon Wireless were taking its subscribers by the hundreds of thousands throughout 2009, even as Sprint fought back with lower-priced plans and compelling smartphones.

Sprint Nextel Corporation (S) is taking the executive that was in charge of its Boost Mobile prepaid brand when subscriber growth exploded almost a year ago and putting him in charge of the company's 4G wireless expansion efforts.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) will be purchasing the prepaid wireless carrier Virgin Mobile USA soon, and the last legal hurdle preventing the finalization of that acquisition seems to be history. Sprint Nextel will settle all the outstanding class-action lawsuits -- many of which see Virgin Mobile's $483 million price tag as undervaluing the company.

So, Sprint will become the leader of value wireless as a result sometime later this year. It already provides the most value-conscious contract wireless customers with values you won't find on any other carrier, like free and unlimited calling at any time to any wireless subscriber in the U.S. on certain plans. Combine that with its Boost Mobile prepaid brand and its $50 "all you can eat" plan, and Virgin Mobile's large customer base, and Sprint's resurgence under CEO Dan Hesse is being built on value more than anything.

"Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) is one of the strongest issues this year among the low-priced stocks; it has climbed from 76 cents to nearly $5," says technical expert Leo Fasciocco.

Fasciocco is a technician and editor of Ticker Tape Digest, an advisory service that focuses on finding stocks that are breaking out from technical basing patterns.

He suggests, "Based in New Jersey, Virgin Mobile offers wireless subscribers a choice in wireless service and innovative products without annual contracts; annual revenues are $1.3 billion.

"The stock's long-term chart shows VM trading as high as 15. It was dragged lower during the bear market. However, the stock has made the turn and is now in an up trend supported by good earnings prospects.

When Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) launched the $50 all-you-can-eat wireless plan with its Boost Mobile prepaid brand back in January, it was a shock to the wireless industry. Indeed, prepaid wireless generally is more expensive and less feature-laden than contract wireless in the U.S. But not even contract wireless plans that featured unlimited talking/texting/web access could be found for $50. What was Sprint Nextel trying to do? Cannibalize itself?

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) has spent the last two years losing its valued post-paid wireless customers, even as CEO Dan Hesse has tried to stop the bleeding. Sprint has re-invented its marketing and those black and white television commercials are attention getting. But regular and business consumers are not the only users of the Sprint Nextel nationwide wireless network.

Virgin Mobile, one of the first mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) in the U.S., is also one of the last. The virtual carrier uses Sprint Nextel's network exclusively throughout the U.S. Other MVNOs like Amp'd Mobile, ESPN Mobile and Disney Mobile have folded in the last few years, leaving Tracfone, Virgin Mobile and Net10 to pick up the slack. Even Virgin Mobile itself purchased Helio, one of the upper-tier MVNOs that also folded. With Sprint wanting as many customers -- its own or from partners like Virgin Mobile -- on its network, the struggling company recently doubled the commission to Virgin Mobile for each new subscriber it signs up.

Instead of paying Virgin Mobile $2.50 per prepaid subscriber, Sprint Nextel has been paying $4.50 per subscriber as of July 2008. The information was just released when Sprint Nextel filed documentation with the SEC, and the increased commission agreement lasts throughout 2009. Is Sprint having success using partners to sign up customers to its network, even it they are not Sprint Nextel customers?

In many ways, they are -- and Sprint Nextel has seen gains from all the customers Virgin Mobile has signed up. Sprint, who lacks a real prepaid service outside the Boost Mobile brand (which is very limited), should look into just buying Virgin Mobile and be done with it. Its larger competitors already have a complete prepaid wireless solution for those customers without stellar credit -- is Sprint ready to get serious about joining that club? It should be.

I've seen it many times: a cool product that finds few customers. That seems to be the case with Helio's mobile phones. Basically, customers didn't want to pay premium prices for such things as access to MySpace and other new-fangled features.

It's a tough lesson (and expensive). SK Telecom and EarthLink (NASDAQ: ELNK) formed Helio as a joint venture in 2005 with start-up capital of $440 million. SK Telecom invested an additional $270 million in the venture last year.

Yet, in the end, Helio turned out to be a big dud. That is, the company sold out for a measly $39 million to Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM). In fact, the space is full of dead companies, such as Disney Mobile and Amp'd Mobile.

I had a chance to interview Frank Dickson, the co-founder and chief research officer of MultiMedia Intelligence. According to him:

Honestly, the merger is a desperate move. Overall, the MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) model makes sense in a limited number of situations. For example, if a cable MSO wants to leverage its customer base and offer triple or quadruple play offering, there is a clear distinctive competency and the MVNO route makes sense.

Since its IPO last year, the shares of Virgin Mobile USA Inc. (NYSE: VM) have imploded -- going from $15.69 to a low of $1.90. The stock has lifted somewhat lately though, and is now trading at $3.43.

Actually, the company has confirmed that it is talking with Helio -- majority owned by SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) -- about a possible merger.

Both companies are known as mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which means that they provide cell services by using another carrier's infrastructure. Unfortunately, the MVNO model has been extremely difficult to pull off (in fact, there have been several high-profile blow-ups in the space, such as Amp'd).

So will a combination help things?

To get some perspective on things, I had a chance to interview Frank Dickson, who is the Chief Research Officer at MultiMedia Intelligence. According to him:

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Sam Branson should take up the reigns of Virgin, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

One might say Sam Branson is a fortunate son, born into a life of money, leadership, and rock-and-roll. His father, whimsical billionaire Richard Branson, carries a net worth of $3.8 billion and maintains a fleet of Virgin-branded enterprises. Branson built this umbrella of companies from the ground up starting nearly 40 years ago.

The Virgin brand soared to prominence in the early 1980s as a record label featuring such acts as the Rolling Stones and Janet Jackson. Ahead of the bubble burst for the compact-disc industry, Branson unloaded this arm of the Virgin empire in 1992, focusing on his pet project -- Virgin Atlantic Airways, which launched in 1984.

Other Virgin progeny include pay-as-you-go mobile-phone service Virgin Mobile (sold to NTL for about 1 billion pounds in July 2006) and Virgin Fuels, which seeks to develop environmentally friendly and cheaper fuel sources for automobiles and airplanes.

Branson's sense of adventure, critical in his business ventures, has also taken him into and across the world's oceans. He has broken speed records in both boat and hot-air balloon, and recently boarded an amphibious vehicle to cross the English Channel in record time.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Glu Mobile, American International and Federated Investors were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• Deutsche Bank downgraded Glu Mobile (NASDAQ: GLUU) shares to Sell from Hold after channel checks indicated that licensing costs are rising sharply for the mobile rights to popular content.
  
• Morgan Stanley cut American International (NYSE: AIG) to Equal Weight from Overweight citing expectations for larger than expected CDS losses vs. management's forecast.
  
• UBS downgraded Federated Investors (NYSE: FII) to Neutral from Buy citing reduced attractiveness for money markets given yield.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Virgin Mobile (NYSE: VM) was downgraded to Market Weight from Overweight at Thomas Weisel and to Sell from Neutral at Merrill.
  
• Oppenheimer cut ORBComm (NASDAQ: ORBC) to Perform from Outperform.
• PNC Financial (NYSE: PNC) was downgraded to Market Perform from Outperform at Keefe Bruyette.

MAJOR PAPERS:

• Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) won a $40B contract to turn Airbus jets into "flying gas stations" for U.S. military aircrafts, the Wall Street Journal reported, breaking The Boeing Company's (NYSE: BA) lock on the market.
• Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) is expected to launch the first covered bond from the country next week, the Financial Times reported. The bank is targeting a benchmark-sized issue worth $1.4B-$4.2B.
• The Financial Times also reported that Indian conglomerate Tata has concluded an agreement with Virgin Mobile USA Inc (NYSE: VM) to launch a cellular phone brand in India. The brand, called Virgin Mobile in India, would target young Indians under a franchise agreement with Tata Teleservices.

WEB SITES:

• Bloomberg reported that former JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) Vice Chairman Donald Layton is expected to be named E*Trade Financial Corporation's (NASDAQ: ETFC) new CEO. In an interview, Layton said he may consider a sale of the troubled online brokerage if it "made sense" for shareholders.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Cisco Systems, Virgin Mobile and Polo Ralph Lauren were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• JP Morgan downgraded shares of Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO) to Neutral from Overweight following its Q2 results, as they believe the company's international exposure is not enough to offset slowing in North America and Europe. Shares were also downgraded to Neutral from Outperform at Baird, citing the meaningful slowdown in fundamentals.
• Lehman downgraded Virgin Mobile USA Inc (NYSE: VM) to Equal Weight from Overweight based on reduced visibility following its Q4 report.
• Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation (NYSE: RL) was lowered to Hold from Buy at Citigroup, as they believe the company is facing fundamental challenges in key markets and a lack of visibility on the Japanese market. They see more upsideelsewhere.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Bear Stearns downgraded BT Group Plc (NYSE: BT) to Peer Perform from Outperform.
• Think Equity lowered Napster Inc (NASDAQ: NAPS) to Accumulate from Buy.
• UBS downgraded Elbit Systems Ltd (NASDAQ: ESLT) to Neutral from Buy.

I first took up a camera around the age of nine, but it wasn't until I discovered Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)'s Flickr photo-sharing site that my "career" in photography really took off. While I'm certainly not hitting the runways of Milan with my Pentax PZ-1P anytime soon, this year I sold several photographs and permitted dozens of others to use my work under the Creative Commons license with which I offer my photos. (My choice is a non-commercial attribution license; as I use many of my photos for work, here on BloggingStocks, I'd hate to see rivals utilizing them as well.)

After extensive conversations with IP attorneys and other authorities in the industry, and given my responsibility of overseeing the use of thousands of photos each year, my grasp of all the legal issues surrounding commercial use of intellectual property is deep. One of the thorniest issues is that of what's called "model release," in other words, if someone's IN your photo, can you still use it?