Antony Savvas
Mobile phone operators are pulling down their "walled gardens" to allow any company to have their corporate Web sites read by mobile phone users via the wireless application protocol (Wap).
It was originally expected that operators would insist on all Wap material being approved by their own Wap portals, which would mean that only "sexy" entertainment sites or major news sites would be included.
Companies wanting to convert their existing corporate Web sites into the wireless mark-up language (WML) had feared they would be initially excluded.
Analysts had thought it would take a couple of years before the "Wapnet" would become as open as the Internet, despite the Government selling off five spectrum licences for third-generation services to help kick-start mobile commerce.
But following the launch of a free Wap WML page design Web site for companies - run by www.FortuneCity.com - the operators who currently support Wap (BT Cellnet, Vodafone and Orange) said they would allow any company's WML content to be accessed through their network.
An Orange spokesman said, "Initially, when we launched our Wap service, we offered a number of sites with free phone access for a limited period, which led the market to believe we would have a walled garden, but that was never our intention."
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This was first published in March 2000
