News agencies launch mobile info services

Five European news agencies are developing information services for mobile communications. The aim is to increase the attractiveness of media offerings in the UMTS standard.Around a dozen services are to be developed by mid-2005 as part of the MINDS project. Close cooperation with network operators, newspaper and magazine publishers, television and radio stations, and Internet portals is planned. The consortium, led by DPA's service subsidiary Infocom, includes the Swiss Dispatch Agency (SDA), ANP (Netherlands), APA (Austria), MTI (Hungary) and the World Association of the Publishing Industry (Ifra).