O2 Ireland has partnered with a social networking site Bebo in launching a new mobile service. Under the deal, O2 Ireland subscribers who are also Bebo users can access to the mobile version of Bebo site and perform some activities such as view their profiles, upload photos, receive alerts or post comments by text message from their O2 phones. It seems that now the mobile network operators not only know to invest capital in next-generation networks, technologies and systems, but also know the importance of achieving exclusive partnership with the leading social networking sites in order to remain competitive in the market. Recent example is the partnership of Vodafone and MySpace.

This partnership definitely provides a sufficient critical mass to get the attention of O2 Ireland and Bebo users, since the service will be offered free of charge until November 30 this year, after which time O2 users will be charged a weekly subscription fee of EUR1.50. Additionally, O2 Ireland has an agreement with Bebo to provide the service exclusively to its customers until March 2008.