The text messaging service gives users instant access to the news as it happens throughout the Iraqi war zone. People can subscribe to the service at Al Jazeera's website at for a monthly fee of just $5.99 (£3.80).
The service is hosted by PervasiveEdge, the provider of content distribution services to wireless-enabled devices, which already counts CNN among its clients, and is able to reach to some 500m mobile phone users in more than 130 countries via text message.
Samir Ibrahim, head of e-marketing at Al Jazeera, said: "The war with Iraq is taking place in a time when many feel detached and uninformed. Providing our news service directly to individuals to their mobile phones from the inside is a major step forward, we are pleased that PervasiveEdge's technology allows people to access our news in such a simple fashion."
Since the war started 13 days ago, Al Jazeera has been condemned by many in the UK and US for the images it has shown of dead and captured allied service personnel. Some have accused it as acting as the mouthpiece of Saddam Hussein's regime.
James Page, co-founder of PervasiveEdge, said: "We are very pleased to be part of providing this vital, almost real-time, independent news service. We live in a fast-paced mobile society, so getting news out to people wherever they may be is crucial. It usually takes around seven days to implement our service but we pooled all efforts to turn this around in just two days as the situation in Iraq is developing so quickly."
Despite its unpopularity in the West, Al Jazeera has won millions of viewers across the Arab world, who have in the past relied on the BBC and CNN.
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