Time Warner Inc.’s AOL division will introduce a paid search service on Monday backed by Google Inc.’s technology to help advertisers better target AOL users.

AOL Search Marketplace is part of a December 2005 agreement with Google in which the Web search leader purchased a $1 billion stake in AOL, the online division of the world’s largest media company.

As part of the deal, sponsored links from Google’s AdWords technology appeared on AOL Search pages. AOL Search Marketplace, a customized version of AdWords, now lets advertisers reach AOL Search customers more effectively, AOL said.

The service will help AOL capture advertising dollars from ads linked to search terms in text, in addition to the money it makes from display ads, such as banners. AOL’s search service drew 311 million queries in February, according to tracking firm comScore Media Metrix.

“If I’ve got a relationship with a big marketer and half of their interactive ad spending is going toward something I don’t offer (search advertising), I’m going to want to acquire that capability,” AOL Media Networks President Mike Kelly said in an interview.

The World Bank has approved financing worth $164.5 million for Kenya, Burundi and Madagascar for high-speed internet connections, the bank said on Tuesday.

The region is the only place in the world not connected to the global broadband infrastructure, making telephone calls and Internet access very expensive, the bank said.

“Businesses are unable to compete in the global economy, university students suffer because they cannot access the Internet, and government agencies cannot communicate effectively with each other and their citizens because they are not connected,” the bank’s statement said.

The bank cited one Kenyan call-centre entrepreneur who has to pay $17,000 per month for 25 agents to make calls from the country compared to costs of only $600-900 paid by other call centers elsewhere in the world.

With an official YouGov survey in the UK finding that one in 10 Internet users is a victim of some form of online fraud, security experts are warning that online fraud — from phishing to identity theft — can strike any user, regardless of the operating system.

One in 10 Internet users in the United Kingdom was a victim of online fraud last year, according to an official survey of 2,400 people, who were asked about their online surfing habits, level of security protection, and encounters with fraud and theft.
Approximately 6 percent had been hit by fraud while shopping online, 4 percent saw “general fraud,” and 3 percent were victims of crime related to banking and credit cards.

The survey was done by YouGov for Get Safe Online, a group created by law enforcement, private companies, and the government. One of the most notable aspects of the project was the discovery that many users did not take basic steps to protect themselves online, such as installing antispyware software.

About one-fifth of those surveyed said they had replied to spam messages, and 10 percent had clicked on a Web site link within a spam e-mail. About 25 percent said most of their online security passwords were the same, and five percent used the same password for every site.

The mobile telecoms industry turned its focus on India at this year’s 3GSM trade fair and away from China, after years of talking about little else but China’s huge market and potential third generation licenses.

Vodafone’s $11 billion deal to buy a controlling stake in India’s fourth-biggest mobile phone firm, Hutchison Essar, announced on the eve of fair, set the agenda as those participants who had not already done so woke up to India’s potential.

With 150 million subscribers but market penetration of still only 15 percent, India is already the world’s fourth-biggest mobile market behind China, the United States and Russia.

It is also the fastest-growing major market and is expected to overtake Russia this year. At its current growth rate, there will be half a billion mobile subscribers in India by 2010.

In the third content deal in as many days, Vodafone Group PLC announced a service that will allow its mobile customers to view and upload videos to YouTube Inc.

The announcement follows others this week from Vodafone with MySpace.com and eBay Inc. The deals point to a growing interest from online content providers to offer their services to mobile customers as well as continued efforts by operators to drive usage of their wireless data networks.

The mobile YouTube service will launch initially in the U.K. where customers will be able to view select videos, forward links of videos and upload and search for videos. Vodafone plans to launch the service in other European markets as well.

YouTube has a similar offering in the U.S. where customers of Cingular Wireless LLC, Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Verizon Wireless Inc. can all upload videos from their phones.

On Thursday, Vodafone said it will be the first to launch a new mobile service from eBay in Europe outside of the U.K. Vodafone Italy customers will be the first to be able to download a free application in order to search for and buy items on eBay. The application will come loaded on phones in the future and Vodafone expects to launch the service across its European markets later this year.