Virgin Mobile UK tears down mobile portal walls

When we talk about mobile operators opening up their walled gardens, it tends to refer to them allowing customers to visit other mobile internet sites.

However, UK operator Virgin Mobile is trying a different tack. It's opening up its mobile portal to other operators' users. Well, it will be next year, according to MocoNews.

Visitors would be able to access all the content and services on the portal, including exclusive stuff. Presumably that'll include Virgin's games offering potentially making it an important new D2C games portal in the UK.

"If we think more broadly about us as a multimedia broadband business it's an opportunity to offer some unique stuff on mobile," says Virgin's Graeme Oxby. "There's no point providing exclusive stuff only for our own customers."

Mobile agency Que Pasa hosts the portal for Virgin Mobile, although the games content is supplied by Player X, in a deal signed in January this year.

Earlier this month, Virgin signed a separate deal to use Yahoo's oneSearch technology as its portal search engine.