Vodafone has announced a tie-up with YouTube, the video-sharing site owned by Google, in the latest in a string of deals to bring the web’s biggest brands to mobile handsets.

The new service, which will be launched later this year, will allow users to browse and access a limited number of clips selected by YouTube, through the Vodafone Live! WAP portal. Vodafone said that YouTube, which is facing growing pressure from content owners over the huge volumes of pirated material available on its website, would be responsible for ensuring bootlegged clips were not shown on mobiles.

Vodafone, which will offer the service in the UK before rolling it out across other European territories, is yet to decide on pricing. The mobile operator will have a period of exclusivity of “some months”, it said, suggesting that YouTube will seek to partner other mobile networks before the end of the year.

The latest venture follows tie-ups between Vodafone with eBay, the online auction house, and MySpace, the social networking site owned by News Corporation, parent company of The Times.

In the US, YouTube signed a similar deal with Verizon Wireless in November, while MySpace is partnering AT&T's Cingular. Yesterday, Verizon also announced an agreement to offer ESPN sports coverage through its mobile network.

Yahoo!, the internet giant, is making a big push into mobile services and is expected to announce a mobile social networking platform before the end of the year.

Early demand for access to services such as eBay is thought to be healthy among mobile users, with the site already one of the most popular services among users of O2's i-mode mobile internet service, according to Ovum, the analyst.

It added: “[Mobile] operators are now definitely working with the fact that many of their customers have strong loyalties to some of the big internet brands.”

The most successful pricing model so far has been a fixed monthly subscription for each service. “Vodafone’s Sky TV service is priced that way, and has seen very good take-up,” the analysts said

By contrast, Vodafone’s tie-up with Microsoft’s MSN Messenger service, which is charged per message, has struggled to attract users.

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