Hutch UK Offers Social Networking on Mobiles

Hutchison 3G UK says that it has signed a partnership with social networking gateway provider Intercasting which will allow users simple access to a raft of well-known online communities from their mobile handset. The partnership will enable 3 subscribers to access social networking sites including LiveJournal, Xanga, Vox and BlackPlanet (but not MySpace it seems - which Vodafone secured last week).

Intercasting allows mobile networks to aggregate the complex process of providing social networking functionalities through its Anthem Social Networking Service Gateway (SNS-G). A media rich interface provides users with a functional, fast and straightforward experience, whilst the back-end handles technical integration, content management and transaction processing.

Rob Wells, Head of Mobile Broadband at 3UK said, "This is another step towards providing our customers with the best possible range of mobile broadband services. Using Intercasting's unique technology our entire user-base can enjoy the best possible mobile social networking experience on a variety of well-known sites with a community base of millions.

"Through the Anthem social networking gateway users will get a social networking experience tailored for the data and media capabilities of their phones, helping to drive adoption and repeat usage over the 3 network. This further extends the world of mobile blogging, messaging and community interaction on 3."

The Mobile World subscriber database estimates that Hutchison 3G UK (trades as "3") ended Q3 '06 with around 3.8 million customers - representing a market share of just under 6%."

Posted to the site on 20th February 2007