Yahoo! has announced an agreement with Spanish mobile phone operator Telefonica, which owns mobile carrier O2, the Telegraph reports.The deal follows other recent moves by the search engine to expand its advertising network, including the purchase of internet marketing business BlueLithium and an agreement with social networking site Bebo to sell the majority of its display advertising.
Yahoo!'s service oneSearch, a search application available to internet-enabled phones, will replace O2's current partner MSN in a "multi-year" deal to be launched at the beginning of 2008.
Although the two companies would not disclose the financial terms of the deal, they revealed that they intend to share advertising revenue.
Vice president of Yahoo! Europe Geraldine Wilson said that she believes advertising revenue from oneSearch will be significantly more lucrative than the company's ordinary search engine service for computers.
She commented: "There are a number of different targeting advertising options we can do. Age and gender, for example, are specifics that are only passed on if the user declares them - but demographics, geographics and behavioural facts can be used."
The agreement will give Yahoo! access to an estimated 100 million customers in 13 countries across Europe, including the UK, as well as 13 countries in Latin America.
Head of content at O2 UK Graham Riddell stated: "Our deal with MSN has been going for many years and offers customers a limited service and no advertising. Yahoo!'s service should unlock the mobile internet for customers."
OneSearch is a dedicated search portal, specifically designed for use on mobile phones.
