While the hopes and dreams of 32 nations . . . other than Ireland . . . will rise and fall with each touch of the ball, the mobile phone companies will also be watching with a commercial eye as the World Cup offers the biggest test yet of whether all that money spent will eventually translate into customers willing to pay a premium to watch video clips, songs and other premium 'stuff ' on their mobile phones.

Perhaps the service that offers mobile operators the best hope of recouping some of that investment is mobile TV.

"Using the World Cup as a hook for mobile TV services makes sense, " said Eden Zoller, an analyst with research firm Ovum. "It's a hugely popular event around the world that has the potential to engage a mass market." It was critical, she added, that the technology live up to the high expectations for football-mad punters.

Targeting disappointed Irish football fans around the World Cup is a tricky proposition for obvious reasons.

Of the mobile operators, only 3 has built a major marketing campaign in Ireland around the World Cup, part of its drive to make itself known to its potential customer base, only weeks after finally launching its prepaid offer.

"It's essential for us to get across that 3 is about more than talk and text, " said Graham Slattery, head of communications, and its 'World Cup TV' is a way to build awareness.

Customers, including prepaid, will be able to sign up for an alert service to follow the team of their choice that will send a message to their mobile, linking to a video clip, "within minutes" of a goal being scored. A full highlights package of video clips for each match is promised minutes after the end of a match. Highlights of each day's games will also be available, the company says, all for free for the duration of the tournament.

"Sitting on the Dart on the way home from work we think people will want to catch up with matches they missed during the day, " Slattery said. "It'll be a chance to educate people about the value proposition we have on offer."

O2 will be offering special World Cup content on its iMode portal, including a selection of content for 'World Cup Widows' who have given up any hope of using the TV remote at home for the next month.

Meteor, which does not have a 3G licence, is nonetheless boxing clever with what it can offer. The company's offer has garnered a disproportionate number of foreign nationals among its subscribers, said David McLaughlin, head of Meteor's content division. Accordingly, it's offering World Cup downloads in Polish, combined with a print advertising campaign directed towards the 140,000 Poles resident here, also in their native tongue.

Vodafone will be offering live match updates, text alerts and clips of commentary and match highlights provided by Sky and Setanta, but Martin Wells, head of consumer data for the company, is looking beyond the World Cup.

"It would be a mistake to look for the one 'killer application'" that would make 3G viable, he said. "It's a range of services, including radio and proper mobile television" that will drive growth. Wells added that Vodafone has been offering sporting highlights video clips for nearly two years, including GAA clips, so an offer like 3's is not particularly new.

Last week Vodafone and Sky announced that, beginning on 15 June, Vodafone's 3G customers would be able to watch up to 18 TV channels their mobile phones, including Sky News, Sky Sports News, CNN, Sky One and Eurosport, as well as a range of music and entertainment channels and a UEFA Champions League magazine programme. The deal makes Vodafone the first in Ireland to offer mobile TV services.

The service will be offered for free until the end of August, after which it will be available for subscription. A subscription to all 18 channels would cost 4.99 a week.

The same service, up and running in the UK, is priced at £15 a month. Wells says the service will thus work out a bit cheaper for Irish customers.

In the past year the company's 237,000 3G customers have downloaded 1.3 million videos, Wells added.

Wells is also keen to point out that full-track music downloads are fast becoming a nice earner for the company, with punters downloading tracks at 1.99 each. While still higher than the 0.99 price per track generally offered by Apple's iTunes, Vodafone is betting consumers will be willing to pay extra for the benefit of buying entirely on impulse, and points to the fact that 500,000 tracks were downloaded on its network in the last year. The company says that makes it the number two online music retailer in Ireland, after iTunes.

Meanwhile, 3 also has high hopes for its music download service, and has even signed up Tom Dunne to front a music entertainment programme available for download.

LAUGH FOR A MINUTE

FOR those who need cheering up during the World Cup . . . and that will eventually include not just frustrated Irish fans . . . one start-up business is hoping to deliver an alternative to your mobile. In fact, it might have already.

Michael Buisman spent six years with Vodafone as head of strategic partnerships. This year he teamed up with comedian Dermot Carmody and promoter Naoise Nunn, long-time manager of the Apres Match comedy team and more recently the Leviathan political cabaret, to found the Irish Comedy Channel, to develop comedy content speci"cally for mobile operators.

It is already providing Gift Grub ringtones featuring Mario Rosenstock in characters such as Roy Keane and Hector O hEochagain on two of the three main mobile networks. Already 5,000 to 8,000 are being downloaded per month at a cost of between 3 and 5.

Buisman, the "rm's managing director, said the company has signed 15 international comedians and will provide short video clips from stand-up routines and slapstick physical comedy.

The plan is to keep the clips short.

"Realistically, no one is going to look at a mobile for more than a few minutes at a time, " Buisman says. The company is negotiating with two Irish mobile operators to offer video content and already offers it to T-Mobil customers in the UK. He hopes to offer some World Cup-specific content "in the second week" of the tournament.