The IRB, rugby's international body, revealed this week that it had begun the tender process for the 2007 cup and that it is splitting the tender in two -- one tender for European mobile rights and a second for production services for mobile and broadband feeds.
The event will be held in France, although two of the matches will be played in Edinburgh, and four in Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium. Matches will be streamed live on the internet and the winner of the mobile rights will be able to distribute highlights and other content to handsets.
The last tournament, held in November 2003, was hosted by Australia and was won by England who defeated Australia in the final.
In Europe, mobile network O2 had mobile rights, while Australian telecoms company Telstra held rights for Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong, as well as producing mobile and internet coverage for the RWC.
The England team has a long-running sponsorship deal with O2 dating back to its BT Cellnet origins in 1995. Its deal includes shirt sponsorship along with new-media developments such as a programme to help the England team keep in touch via BlackBerry wireless devices.
Deadline for tenders is July 15 2005.
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