Finnish town has culture on the go with mobiles

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Fancy a dose of culture in the Finnish city of Oulu? All you need is a mobile phone.

Get theatre tickets digitally, download a smart video trailer of how the play was directed, order and pay for snacks for the interval and, after a culture-packed night, order a taxi home -- all by just swiping a cellphone over smart tags placed on the menus or around the foyer of the theatre.

The Oulu City Theatre in northern Finland, 600 kilometers (373 miles) north of Helsinki, says it is the world's first cultural institution to use the hippest handset technology, expected to turn mobile phones into wallets.

"It is often said that theatre is somehow old-fashioned. I'm hoping this will build the opposite picture," the head of Oulu City Theatre, Ahti Ahonen, told Reuters.

NFC (near-field communication) technology is activated by waving phones over wireless readers, or smart tags, and is widely used in public transport access cards.

"The cultural world should also keep abreast with the latest technological developments," Ahonen said.

The theatre is running a pilot, involving technology from Finnish mobile phone-maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and telecommunications operator TeliaSonera (TLSN.ST: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), until the year-end and will extend its usage more widely if it proves successful.

(Reporting by Sami Torma; Editing by Elisabeth O'Leary)