Virgin Mobile USA, the telecom company that has lost Sir Richard Branson over $200 million, today said it was in talks with SK Telecom about a “strategic partnership”.

No details were given but the partnership could involve SK, South Korea’s largest mobile phone operator, buying Virgin Mobile or merging its US operations with Sir Richard’s.

Virgin Mobile USA listed in New York last year at $15 a share and in the following months lost more than 85 per cent of its value. Its shares dropped below $2.50 in March, wiping $250 million off the value of Sir Richard’s 37 per cent stake.

The share price jumped over $1 to $4.08 today after the company confirmed talks were taking place with SK.

The discussions revolve around a potential deal between SK’s US operation, which is called Helio, and Virgin.

One scenario is for SK to buy Virgin Mobile, which has seen its market capitalisation fall to $217 million from nearly $800 million at floatation, but Virgin’s shareholders are thought to want to ride out the current slump.

A more likely scenario is a merger of the two operators with SK taking a stake in the enlarged group.

Virgin Mobile USA has been operating in the US since 2002 and offers a pay-as-you-go service. It has struggled in recent months as the economic downturn in the US has hit its low-wage consumers hardest.

The company has also said that it is not engaging in the loss-making promotions its rivals have started. Loss-making Helios is 69 per cent owned by SK, which decided to invest in the US after its domestic market became saturated and expansion opportunities were limited.

Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines formally announced that it was open to offers for its 49 per cent stake in Virgin Atlantic.

The carrier said last year that it was assessing the future of its partnership with Virgin but analysts were surprised by the timing of Singapore’s announcement as the worsening outlook for the airline sector could make selling the stake difficult.

Sir Richard, who owns the other 51 per cent of Virgin Atlantic, has said he would be interested in buying out Singapore Airlines.

The Singaporean stake was valued at about $1 billion last year but airlines are struggling with record oil prices and it may be worth considerably less now.

One rumoured scenario in the aviation industry is that Lufthansa, the German national carrier, will buy both the Singapore stake in Virgin and bmi, another British carrier, to create a European super-airline.

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