Orange links up with social networking site Bebo

LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Mobile phone group Orange will offer its UK mobile customers access to social networking website Bebo via their phones, the France Telecom-owned (FTE.PA) mobile operator said on Wednesday.

The group said it had signed an exclusive deal with Bebo for the service in the UK for an undisclosed period of time, and the service would rolled out to other Orange operations. It did not disclose financial terms for the service, expected to be launched this summer. The move by Orange follows a similar deal by larger rival Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L) last month with News Corp.-owned NWS.N MySpace site, and is part of a growing trend among mobile operators to offer on phones Internet services traditionally accessible using computers.

The deal could help Orange boost mobile usage and with it data revenues, and also helps Bebo users access the website even when on the move.

In a separate announcement on Wednesday, Bebo said it had signed an exclusive partnership deal with UK technology company 7Digital that allows musicians to sell their music to the networking site's 31 million users.

(Additional reporting by Gavin Haycock)

((Reporting by Santosh Menon, editing by Paul Bolding; Reuters Messaging

rm://santosh.r.menon.reuters.com@reuters.net

email: santosh.r.menon@reuters.com

Tel: +44 20 7542 9325, Fax: +44 20 7583 3769)) Keywords: ORANGE BEBO/

(C) Reuters 2007. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group ofcompanies around the world.nL28434173