We've watched with interest, though not exactly surprise, the downfall of specialty cellphone carriers Mobile ESPN and Amp'd Mobile. Helio doesn't seem to be in any stronger a position than Amp'd was; in fact, it's bleeding cash like there's no tomorrow.

MocoNews is reporting that Helio's parent company, Earthlink, is continuing to infuse cash but is seriously weighted down by Helio's losses. The small carrier, with just over 100,000 subscribers, is slated to lose between $160 million and $180 million for the calendar year 2007.

Now we're starting to see some method to Helio's charge-for-free-YouTube madness.

Helio's Losses Weigh On Earthlink; Subscribers 100K; Losses $83.8 Million; Revenues: $33.2 Million [MocoNews]