News

Orange links up with social networking site Bebo

Mobile phone group Orange will offer its UK mobile customers access to social networking Web site Bebo via their phones, the France Telecom-owned mobile operator said on Wednesday.

The group said it had signed an exclusive deal with Bebo for the service in the UK for an undisclosed period of time, and the service would rolled out to other Orange operations. It did not disclose financial terms for the service, expected to be launched this summer.

The move by Orange follows a similar deal by larger rival Vodafone Group last month with News Corp.-owned MySpace site, and is part of a growing trend among mobile operators to offer on phones Internet services traditionally accessible using computers.

The deal could help Orange boost mobile usage and with it data revenues, and also helps Bebo users access the Web site even when on the move.

In a separate announcement on Wednesday, Bebo said it had signed an exclusive partnership deal with UK technology company 7Digital that allows musicians to sell their music to the networking site's 31 million users.