Television soaps have now found another screen, your mobile phone, with the mobile interactive division of Star India, Star Mobile Entertainment, announcing it will launch a service called 'PLUS' by end April.

Sources say Star India will invest around Rs 50-60 crore (Rs 500-600 million) over the next one year in its mobile entertainment business. It is also expected to spend Rs 10-15 crore (Rs 100-150 million) on marketing and promotional activities for the same. The company does not divulge investment details.

"Given the rate at which the mobile industry is booming, it warrants some serious investments and new business opportunities in the space. Hence the new division will deal exclusively with mobile entertainment," said Viren Popli, senior vice-president of Star Mobile Entertainment.

'PLUS', which is already running as a pilot, enables mobile users to access a wide choice of video content and services such as yellow pages, buyer guides, banking, travel and ticketing, shopping, sports and more.

In addition, one can opt to view soaps from across Star India's network - Star Plus, Star Gold and Star One. For instance, if you've missed a particular day's show you can view the synopsis of the show on your mobile (as a video). A serial's synopsis will be available for download 15 minutes after the show ends.

On the travel front, users can book domestic air tickets via their mobile phone. The travel and ticketing service is facilitated by travel portals MakeMyTrip.com and TravelGuru.com, while banking is facilitated by HDFC Bank. Star has also partnered with Infomedia Group to provide yellow pages information, Universal Music for music content.

And for lifestyle services, it has tie-up with magazines like Chip for computing information, Overdrive for car information, Better Photography, audiophiles can get advice from AVMAX, T3 for gadgets and design tips from Better

Interiors.

To avail the service, one has to download PLUS on a mobile phone, which is General Packet Radio Service or Wireless Application Protocol enabled. Star Mobile Entertainment has tie-up with almost all leading telecom service providers such as Hutch, Idea, Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, Spice, and Airtel is soon to follow.

Initially subscribers will be offered free trial for a period of one month. "The idea is to get users habituated to the service and once he/she is satisfied then the service will come with a charge," said Popli. Post the one-month trial period, users will be charged Rs 30 per month for unlimited usage.

However, for every data transaction users will be charged extra. Usually data download is priced at Rs 10 for 1MB of data. Popli is upbeat on achieving 500,000 subscriptions in the next 6 months, and hopes to capture 5-8 per cent of the total mobile space market share.

However, industry estimates indicate there are around 10-12 million GPRS users. Further, GPRS connectivity has a slow download time. Popli, though, claims: "The Plus application has been designed to maximise the consumer experience on mobile.