Britain's main mobile phone operators, including O2, are in talks with MySpace over a tie-up to enable customers to access the fast-growing social networking site on the move.

The talks with British mobile companies come as the site — which links users with millions of potential contacts — prepares to announce a tie-up with Cingular, America’s biggest wireless player. An announcement is expected in the next few weeks.

Although many British mobile groups have their own networking sites, on which users can post video clips about themselves, none has yet entered an official tie-up with a social networking company.

3’s Kink Kommunity has 50,000 paying subscribers and receives an average of 350,000 postings a day. O2 has launched LookAtMe, a site where users pay 10p to download video clips posted by other users.

However, within the fiercely competitive UK market, access to well-known PC applications can prove a critical tool in attracting customers. All the main mobile players are believed to be looking at the social networking arena closely.

Vodafone is expected to be asked about developments in this area when it reports results this week. Bebo, which has 22 million users, has also been talking to UK mobile players, including O2, about a tie-up.

The drive to win customers by offering access to popular internet sites on the move was underlined in the United States last week when it emerged that YouTube, the video-sharing company, is in talks with Verizon Wireless about providing its content on mobile phones.

News Corporation, parent company of The Times, bought MySpace for $580 million (£303 million) last year. Today it has more than 100 million registered members globally.

An O2 spokesman said: “We recognise people want their own content on the move and we are in exploratory talks with people like MySpace.”

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