London, March 26:

This summer, Britain’s teenagers will be able to stop badgering their parents to pay off their mobile phone bills, with the launch of a new service that offers free calls and texts provided users are willing to receive adverts on their phones.

Blyk, a start-up run by the former president of the Finnish mobile firm Nokia, will today MAR26) announce it has signed deals with advertisers including Coca-Cola, L’Oreal and Buena Vista, part of the Disney media empire, as it works up to a summer launch in the UK.

Blyk, which is aiming for the 16- to 24-year-old market, is also understood to be close to a deal with mobile phone operator Orange to run the service over its network. Orange refused to comment, saying only that it was always on the lookout for partners.

Advertisers are starting to look at mobiles as a useful medium. Google is experimenting with mobile search advertising, tying up partnerships with several operators. In the US, Virgin Mobile has launched Sugar Mama, which gives customers free airtime if they agree to watch adverts and give feedback. Also in the US, Xero Mobile is testing an ad-funded service aimed at college students.

The fact that members of the crucial 16- to 24-year-old market havewholeheartedly embraced mobile phones makes the small screen an even more attractive platform. Advertisers are finding it increasingly difficult to interact with the teenage and early 20s audience because their mediahabits have migrated so quickly online.

Their taste for social interaction has made sites such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube some of the most visited on the internet, but advertising spending has been slow to moveinto this new space.

While there have been many successful online campaigns - especially using video and “viral” techniques which rely on internet users disseminating content containing a brand message - spending on internet advertising represents a fraction of the amount spent on TV and print media.

Blyk’s co-founder and chief executive, Pekka Ala-Pietila, believes mobile advertising will help bridge that digital divide. “The range of products that we have developed allows us to serve a big diversity of clients, from running global brand awareness campaigns through to very specific local campaigns.”

But advertisers will have to be careful not to annoy their new users withthe mobile equivalent of spam email.

People signing up for the Blyk service will be asked to give details of their likes and dislikes. Althoughthere is no billing relationship with the customer, there will be regular interaction through questionnaires and other response mechanisms.

“We will collect the profiles of the young consumers, or members as we call them, who use the service to find out their areas of interest,” Ala-Pietila said. “By understanding the preferences of our customers, advertisers will be able to create very relevant campaigns.”

Orange has been running adverts on its Orange World portal since September last year and early indications are that consumers are willing to interact with brands through their phones.