MySpace ties up with Russia MTS for mobile network

MOSCOW (Reuters) - News Corp's NWSa.N MySpace has entered into a partnership agreement with Russia's largest carrier, MTS (MBT.N), to launch a social platform for mobile internet users, an MTS official told Reuters on Wednesday.

Under the agreement, MySpace will create an exclusive WAP-portal for subscribers of MTS Russia, who currently number more than 60 million.

"Besides, we are planning to launch a branded community for MTS users on the Russian-language section of the MySpace website," said Irina Osadchaya, a spokeswoman for MTS.

MySpace, with about 110 million users worldwide, says it is the most trafficked website in the United States and about 300,000 people sign up each day.

Like other social networks, MySpace lets users share images, music, videos and blogs. Osadchaya said MySpace Russia's weekly audience totalled around 150,000 users and was growing by 800 to 1,000 connections a day.

MTS, part of services conglomerate Sistema (SSAq.L), already has similar partnership agreements with local social networks such as LiveJournal, Mamba and Mail.ru.

MTS's key rivals, Vimpelcom (VIP.N) and MegaFon, are currently exploring the field.

(Reporting by Anastasia Teterevleva; Writing by Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Quentin Bryar)