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Yahoo is hoping to steal a lead on rival Google in the nascent mobile search and advertising markets, having lost the battle for dominance in the desktop computer search market.

"We will continue to focus on investing in this area. It falls squarely within our strategy of indispensable starting points," says Mitch Lazar, the head of Yahoo's mobile operations in Europe.

Yahoo aims to make itself a favourite starting point for internet consumers, providing easy access to popular services and relevant information without needing to own those services and information itself.

The Virgin deal will bring Yahoo's coverage of the British population using mobile search up to 80% from about 76% previously through its partnerships with operators, Yahoo claims, citing m:metrics data.

Globally, Yahoo now has 70 such partnerships, giving it access in theory to 850 million subscribers.

Earlier today, a Microsoft executive branded rumours of a new deal to buy Yahoo's search services as "total fiction".