T-Mobile and Virgin get Sky for top-up service

NEWS The relationship between TV and mobile just got a bit cosier. Sky digital has teamed up with T-Mobile and Virgin Mobile to allow the two mobile operators' customers to top up pre-pay phones via their television sets. On the Sky Active platform, consumers enter phone and credit card details once and then, using a PIN, top up their accounts from their remote control. Calls for the online service are at a local rate. Sky partners with BT for this landline connectivity. Virgin piggy-backs on T-Mobile's infrastructure in the UK as a virtual network operator, making both companies' involvement simple, but Sky has said it is in talks with the other three mobile carriers. Graeme Hutchinson, Virgin Mobile sales and marketing director, said in a statement: "Television and mobile phones have long complimented each other, and this is the perfect way of taking that relationship to the next level." Users must be at least 16 years old and can buy up to £100 of airtime at a go. The service was developed and is run by Amplefuture and Omegalogic. The 'Your Mobile' option on the digital Sky platform already allows SMS texting, the downloading of Java games and ringtones to phones, and various pushed alerts for news provided by Sky.