New UK-based MVNO Blyk launched today, targeting The 16- to 24-year-old demographic with an invitation-only service - which happens to be free.

Users get a free account with a limit of 217 texts and 43 minutes per month in return for viewing content from advertisers: a minimum of six ads per day.

"Buena Vista, Coca-Cola, I-play Mobile Gaming, L'Oreal Paris, StepStone and Yell have already confirmed that they will be among the first advertisers," writes TechCrunch's Mike Butcher.

Sounds nice 'n all, but something tells me this idea's going to end up in the same dustbin as free dialup access...

More here from Digital Journal ... more here from The Guardian ... more here from Pocket-lint ... more here from BusinessWeek ... and the press release is here.