Merrion was previously head of direct sales, online and marketing at Virgin Mobile and his main task at Blyk will be to increase the number of subscribers to the service.
Blyk, whose UK chief executive is ex-Telegraph director of new media Shaun Gregory, launched in September 2007 and has set a goal of 100,000 subscribers within 12 months of launch.
Blyk is a mobile company that is free to use and aimed at 16 to 24-year-olds. It makes money through advertising, offering young people free calls and other mobile services should they opt in to receive ads.
Gregory said that Blyk is on course to hit its target and that the detailed profiling of its users is helping to attract partners.
"We've not only got information about people's interests, but also their behaviour and this will build over time as they are having an ongoing conversation and building up a more valuable profile," he said.
Gregory said that Blyk is on "a real talent drive" due to demand in the market.
He is putting in place specialists in digital and communications, in order to get subscribers on board, as well as building a sales team.
Virgin Mobile and Blyk are similar in that they are both mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). This is where operators such as O2 and Vodafone sell minutes of usage to MVNOs, who then take their customer proposition to market.
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