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Last Words
Mobile firms eye 'Playboy' services
By Owen Gibson
Monday January 13, 2003
Mobile phone companies are turning to soft porn in a bid to recoup the billions they have splashed out on third generation licences.
And they are being forced to consider introducing a film classification rating system for picture and video messaging to pave the way for adult-only mobile phone services.
All the major mobile operators are trying to tie up deals with adult content providers such as Playboy, as full colour phones capable of displaying high-resolution images become more popular.
Services such as Vodafone Live! have already started charging users via their phone bill for games, ringtones, pictures and content from publishers such as the Sun and FHM. The next step for mobile operators to sell video clips direct to phones in the same way.
Virgin Mobile and the first 3G entrant into the market, Hutchison's 3, have already appointed dedicated advisers to look into making money from adult content.
In an effort to stave off a possible PR backlash, they are drawing up a code of practice to ensure that the material is not bought by those under the age of 18.
If the industry can persuade regulator ICTIS that it can come up with a realistic way of registering phones that are owned by those under 18 and certifying adult content, then it will clear the way for a major new revenue stream.
The issue has also come to the fore because the forthcoming communications bill contains several passages relating to mobile content and the use of mobile phones.
Having shelled out a collective £22bn on 3G licences and hundreds of millions more on developing and promoting the picture messaging phones already in shops, mobile operators are looking for ways of clawing back some of their investment.
Sex and chat lines have always been profitable for fixed line telcos, while on the web porn is one of the few industries to have made money from day one. According to Datamonitor, adult content is expected to have generated £1.94bn in revenues by the end of this year.
Companies such as Bango.net are developing technology that would allow content providers to register adult content and allow parents to bar their children's phones from receiving adult content, with the hope of persuading mobile operators to introduce their systems as an industry standard.
The full article at The Guardian
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